The Chesterton speech team traveled to Munster High School to compete at their invitational speech tournament on December 10th. Munster hosted 10 schools and more than 200 competitors. Chesterton returned home with 2nd place overall, narrowly following Culver Academies.

There were 2 first-place victories from Chesterton, including Joshua Hoover (12) & Jackson Dudek (12) in original performance and Carmen Thomas (10) in original oratory. Hoover and Dudek performed a self-written piece in which they satirically critiqued the state of Indiana speech and debate. They were also the runners-up in improvised duo. Thomas spoke on the importance of embracing vulnerability at a personal and societal level. She was also 4th place in prose interpretation.

Other final round finishes included Cai McClure (12) 6th in drama, Addie Botts (11) 4th in drama, the team of Aleksa Sorgic (10) & Sam Ames (10) 3rd in duo, Katie Asbury (11) 6th in humor, Elsa Leady (10) 3rd in humor, the team of El Thompson (9) & TiffanyNichole Nolasco (11) 4th in improv duo, Aleksa Sorgic 6th in informative speaking, Gigi Hanner (12) 4th in original oratory, Damion Lopez (10) 6th in original performance, Katie Asbury 5th in original performance, Maddi Morton (10) in prose, TiffanyNichole Nolasco 3rd in prose, Savanna Hugley (11) 4th in broadcasting, and Cai McClure 3rd in broadcasting.

            This tournament closes out the first semester of competition for the Chesterton speech team. Over break, students and coaches will be hard at work preparing for the second semester, which begins with a combined speech and debate competition at Fishers High School on January 7th.

“Second place is a comfortable position to close the first semester,” said coach Karly Carden. “We’ve got plenty of work ahead of us, and this break is a great opportunity to pull ahead of the competition.”
The speech team thanks alumna, Dylan Leavitt, and parents, Tom McClure, John Dudek, Jolene Hugley, Desi Robertson, and Phillip Dietrich, for their volunteer work judging at the tournament.