EHS forensics on top again
Nancy Horst, Special to the Gazette
Friday, May 1, 2009
The Emporia High School Forensics Team will compete Saturday in the State Speech Championship at Topeka with 13 students competing in 16 events.
“Kansas State High School Activities Association rules limit schools to 16 entries at the state tournament; EHS qualified 20,” Coach Scott Bonnet said. “EHS will be one of 11 schools taking the maximum entry to this year’s state tournament.”
The following students qualified for the 5A state forensics tournament this season: Drew Bonnet, Adam Helmer, Oscar Lara, Sonia Lara, McKenna LeClear, Lindsey McDaniel, Anita Muniz, Matt Parra, Jake Schaefer, Tagan Trahoon, Hector Urbina, Baxter Vaz, Zach Windsor and Ryan Wright.
Four students also will compete in the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament Memorial Day Weekend in Albany, N.Y. EHS competitors will be Drew Bonnet and Kathryn Scherich, team debate; McKenna LeClear, oratory; and Jake Schaefer, Student Congress.
The team is winding up another successful year and is currently ranked “in the top one-half of one percent of all NFL chapters in the nation,” Bonnet said. “Our chapter has exceeded 300 total degrees, which is based on points earned by students in competition, for the third year in a row.”
Earlier this spring, the EHS chapter also received the Leading Chapter Award as the top-ranked school in the Kansas Flint Hills NFL District. The National Award for Excellence in Speech was presented to the school based on competitions from 1999 through the 2008 season.