Local graduate wins national championship title in persuasive speaking

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Neighbors | Submitted.Cassie Wirtz is an Austintown Fitch High School graduate and a freshman at Ohio Univeristy.

Austintown Fitch High School graduate Cassie Wirtz recently won a national championship in the persuasive speaking category at a tournament for college novices in Louisiana.

“Cassie Wirtz came to college from a strong high school speech program at Fitch,” said Dan West, her college coach at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. “She shows great potential at the college level.”

Wirtz is a freshman at Ohio University in Athens. She was named Novice National Champion in persuasive speaking at the 2016 Novice National Tournament, which took place March 12-14 at University of Louisiana/Lafayette.

Ohio University has produced 85 national champions in competitive speech since 1971.

In the persuasive speaking category, students deliver 10-minute memorized speeches. The goal is to explain a problem clearly and offer ways to solve the problem.