In its first official weekend of competition, the Chesterton speech team had five student entries emerge as champions. A partial squad of fifteen students traveled to Kokomo High School, earning fifth place overall, despite being outnumbered.

The team was led by Gigi Hanner (12) and Carmen Thomas (10) who tied for first place in the event of original oratory. Hanner spoke on the issue of creating narratives and Thomas urged her audience to embrace vulnerability. The pair of Joshua Hoover (12) and Jackson Dudek (12) were crowned champions in original performance, in which they satirized the state of speech and debate in Indiana.

The team also had champions in two novice divisions, including Caibhan McClure (12) in novice dramatic interpretation and TiffanyNichole Nolasco (11) in novice prose reading.

Other top six placings were Katie Asbury (11) placing 6th in humor, Hanner placing 4th in radio broadcasting, Damion Lopez (10) placing 5th in radio broadcasting and 3rd in original performance, Maddi Morton (10) placing fifth in original performance, and Dex Trzaska (10) placing 6th in novice informative speaking.

The previous weekend, both speech and debate competed at Crown Point High School, both earning first place in the team sweepstakes competition. Champions that weekend were Kat Markwart (10) and Jonathon McClure (12) in policy debate, Asbury  in original spoken word poetry, Dudek in extemporaneous reading, and Hanner in radio broadcasting.

“This team is full of kids who are dedicated to lifting each other up,” said speech coach, Aaron Drew. “That’s why these early wins are just going to snowball over the next five months.”
The speech team thanks alumna, Dylan Leavitt, and parent, Bob Mueller, for their volunteer work judging at the tournament.

Pictured, left to right: Jackson Dudek, Joshua Hoover, Caibhan McClure, Carmen Thomas, Gigi Hanner, TiffanyNichole Nolasco