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Fitch speech team gives school flair of Potter for tourney
By christine keeling
austintown
Fitch speech students transformed the district’s high school into Hogwarts on Friday.
Sixteen speech and debate teams from around the area will compete today at the 43rd annual Austintown Optimist Speech Tournament.
Each week, the hosting team picks a theme, and senior officers of the Austintown team chose Harry Potter.
“Harry Potter is the most amazing thing,” said freshman Emily Kollar. “He’s our icon.”
She was on a committee that was busy decorating lockers, while other students were blowing up balloons and painting posters with magical themes.
Freshman Jackie Knutti was glad another team didn’t take Fitch’s idea.
Last week, the Niles team had ’90s Nickelodeon shows, she said.
“It’s a huge day,” said Andrea Folsom, the team’s head coach. “It’s your big moment.”
There are more than 500 competitors and 100 judges, she said.
This is the third tournament of the season for the Austintown team. Its 51 members compete in events that include duo interpretation, humor, debate, drama and prose and poetry.
The team was awarded the prestigious 100 Club from the National Forensics League. It is in the top 10 percent of all NFL chapters nationwide. This year, Seniors Dan Ferguson and Jacob Clasen have won first place at each tournament in duo. They won a special award for best performance of the day at Niles.
“Last year, 30 kids qualified for state,” said Folsom. “Our goal is to have more this year.”