On Wednesday, February 9, the HHS forensics team went to neighboring school Turner Ashby to participate in the VHSL District Forensics Tournament.

It was a long day for the team as they left after school and returned at nine in the evening. The team placed first out of the four district schools, gaining the title of 2011 district champs. All ten students will be moving on to regionals, to be held at Allegheny High School on March 5.

Most of the team had been working and competing with their piece since October, but for junior Allison McKenzie, districts was her first competition. She competed in the story telling category, where orators perform a memorized children’s story as if they were doing it in front of a crowd of children. She placed first out of two people.
“It was really exciting. The tournament was pretty chill, but everyone was still very excited,” McKenzie said. “I am [looking forward to regionals and can’t wait to compete against more people.”
Freshman Daelyn McCleave is very happy with her placing. McCleave competes in Prose which involves delivering a short monologue from a story. Her piece is about “a girl raised by hippie parents who plays dress up and wears her tutu to school.” She placed first out of two competitors.
“Despite my worries, it was fairly easy because there were only two of us. I knew the other competitor personally, so it was easier to do the piece in front of her,” McCleave said.

Freshman Deborah Halpern  is also pleased with their standing. She competes in dramatic duo interpretation with her friend, Freshman Ellen Upton. They placed second out of four.
Everyone was so good. The team that did beat us were amazing, I’m glad they got first,” Halpern said.

Most categories had only two competitors, meaning that everyone in that room would progress to regionals anyway. But HHS getting mostly first place is a huge bump of encouragement for the students for the March 5 tournament.