League 3 at Lowell
This year has flown by. The third and last regular, league tournament was held last Saturday, February 2, and we showed up with slightly fewer competitors than normal because of the Lenaea Festival, which was the same weekend. That did not stop us from making a strong showing, especially in Impromptu. Brian Barcenas '20 was new to this event, and he made it to the final rounds in novice. Another newcomer, Bert Garner '21, threw himself into varsity, which is a tough, competitive field, and he shocked everyone by placing fifth overall. This promises good things to come for Bert as we head into State Quals and beyond! The seasoned competitor, Gavin Patchet '19, edged past his teammate and placed fourth overall. We sure can talk off the tops of our heads here at SA!
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Chloe Cullen '20 made another splash with her Program in Oral Interpretation. For this she is singing, "The Times, They are A'Changing," originally by Bob Dylan. Her beautiful voice stitches together several different pieces including two TED Talks about negative media coverage. Chloe placed first in the novice division.
Emma Hartley '20 is taking her Advocacy piece farther and farther into competition with each tournament. Having made it to semis two weeks ago at MLK, she now made it to finals, eventually placing fourth overall. She too is in position to earn a spot this year at the State Tournament in Long Beach.
Perhaps the highlight of the entire tournament was Reece Stromberg '19. A newcomer to speech, he has dived straight into Varsity Expository, which I have often stated is the "electrical engineering" of speech. Competitors get thirty minutes to prepare a seven-minute speech on a topic related to current political news. To compete, Reece listens to several podcasts and reads several news journals in their entirety every single day. I am very pleased to say that Reece earned a third place trophy in this most difficult of events. Reece started his speech career just several months ago, but he is looking to extend it as far as possible... State... and beyond!
Perhaps the highlight of the entire tournament was Reece Stromberg '19. A newcomer to speech, he has dived straight into Varsity Expository, which I have often stated is the "electrical engineering" of speech. Competitors get thirty minutes to prepare a seven-minute speech on a topic related to current political news. To compete, Reece listens to several podcasts and reads several news journals in their entirety every single day. I am very pleased to say that Reece earned a third place trophy in this most difficult of events. Reece started his speech career just several months ago, but he is looking to extend it as far as possible... State... and beyond!
The Speech Team wants to thank Michelle Boyers, Robert Duchynski, Leticia Sotelo, and Cheryl Willett for spending their Saturday judging in San Francisco. Without their support, we simply could not compete.
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