By Zac Nelson

As most AHS students were gliding into winter break, 16 students headed to a forensics tournament in ALHS in Des Moines. AHS came home with four medals. About 9 teams participated in the tournament, and there were no sweepstakes (ranking of schools) awards given.

Junior Hannah McLean rose to the top of her competition, bringing home the first-place award in the prose category.  The prose category requires the contestant to read aloud a prose (non-poetry) selection and use the voice and facial expression to show interpretation. McLean read “Louisa, Please Come Home” by Shirley Jackson. McLean’s favorite part of this tournament “was getting to hang out with my teammates and seeing all my hard work pay off.”

Sophomore Logan Holzapfel also placed in the Prose category. Holzapfel read “Blood of Sins” by Naty Dell, a piece she chose herself. Holzapfel said the selection was good for Dramatic Interpretation and Prose.

In the Original Oratory category, junior Brecklyn Carey earned the fourth-place medal. An original oratory is a student-written persuasive speech. Carey wrote an original oratory piece on Self Harm and Suicide Prevention. Carey said, “I thought it was a tons of fun. It was my first NFL (National Forensic League) competition.”

Senior Logan Hemphill was the final AHS medalist, bringing home sixth-place in Prose. Hemphill said speech competitions are a lot of fun and getting a medal was really rewarding.

AHS Forensics coach Matthew Smith is beginning his second season at the helm of the Forensics team. “I feel the students performed well,” said Smith. “Many are freshmen, and this was their first exposure to a tournament, and they have picked up some excitement for the activity.”

Other students involved in the Dec. 20-21 competition were Jessica Askeland, Nicholas Crews, Katharine Darrow, Nicholas Edwards, Camden McFadden, Benjamin Parker, Paige Sorensen, Valerie Watson, Lillie Zablocki, Maximilian Elwood, Madison Helvie, and Robert Hitch.

The forensics team participated in IHSSA Large Group contest on Saturday, Jan. 25.