IJHS Forensics sets the standard in five counties
The IJHS Forensics Team placed in all seven categories at the first of this season’s Five County Junior High Forensics League Tournaments held Wednesday, October 3 at Bellwood-Antis Middle School, winning 15 ribbons, the most of the ten schools in the competition; in addition, the team took 1st or 2nd place in six of the seven categories--and in one category, both!
Morgan Adamson, 7th grade, debuted in the in Drama category, taking 6th place.
Freshmen Avery Olenchick & Aviana Struzzi reprised their scene from last year’s fall play, Argonauts, to win 2nd place--the best showing in this category for the past decade.
In Impromptu, 7th grade Lucy Powers debuted with a 2nd place win.
Three more students debuted in Informative. Maura Knepper, 8th grade, won 1st place; Tristan Reddinger, 7th grade, won 3rd place; and Marina Conjelko, 7th won 5th place.
In Persuasive, veteran competitor Sara Welch, 9th grade, won 2nd place while Alvin Liu, 8th grade, debuted with 5th place.
In the highly competitive category of Poetry, Lee Rosenberger, 8th grade, won 1st place while 8th grader Emily Fields won 4th place, and 7th grader Delia Salser debuted with a 7th place finish. Audrea Barbara, 8th grade, gave a strong performance but finished just outside placing.
Finishing with the team’s strongest showing with all four speakers placing in the Prose category, 8th graders Sophie Runge placed 1st, Olivia Keith and Henry Rummel debuted with a 2nd place tie, and Olivia Burkhart debuted with 7th place ribbon.
The IJHS team dominated the tournament’s overall ribbon tally, but even more impressive is the fact that two-thirds of those who placed were competing in their first tournament.
The IJHS Forensics team is coached by Ms. Robyn Bailey-Orchard, who would like to thank former Forensic team competitors and current IHS students Talia Mastalski, Parker Koons, and Abby Walker for serving as judges.