Emporia High School senior Alex Bonnet claimed the state championship in oration at the state speech tournament held at Shawnee Heights High School on Saturday.
Bonnet also finished fourth in international topics, extemporaneous speech. It was his second straight year in the top four. His younger brother Drew, a sophomore, placed eighth in domestic topics, extemporaneous speech. Sophomore McKenna LeClear placed ninth in informative speech and 13th in oration.
Senior Sady Strong competed in oration and informative speech, junior Celia Schinkel and sophomore partner Lindsey McDaniel in duet acting, Schinkel in serious solo acting, junior Jordan Edwards in interpretation of poetry, freshmen Sonia Lara and Zach Windsor in interpretation of prose, and freshman Jamie Schmidt in humorous solo acting.
Bonnet and senior partner Chase Miller will compete for the national high school debate championship in Appleton, Wis., over Memorial Day weekend. Bonnet will then compete at the National Student Congress championship in Las Vegas in mid-June.
Bonnet has accepted a full scholarship to debate for the University of Missouri at Kansas City next year. UMKC placed second at the 2007 National Debate Championship.5