The OLSH forensics team made its annual trip to the Pennsylvania High School Speech League (PHSSL) State Tournament held at Commonwealth University - Bloomsburg this past weekend. Seven students represented OLSH in five events.
Jackson Leslie '29 competed in Impromptu, Jared Nastal '28 and Titus Hill '27 competed as a team in News Broadcasting, and Jenna Nastal '26 competed in Storytelling. Eve Amendola '26 competed in Dramatic Interp and made the semifinal round, placing 9th overall.
The duo interp team of Bridget Fogle '26 and Sophia Muoio '26 placed first overall in the tournament, earning the State title - the school's first in any speech & debate category! Duo interp features two speakers presenting a serious or humorous selection from memory. The students use vocal quality (tone, pitch, volume, etc), character voices, facial expressions, and pantomime to tell a story. Bridget and Sophia presented a selection from "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah, which explores the relationship between a mother and daughter during the American Dust Bowl and Great Depression.
The State Tournament welcomed 679 students from 72 schools across Pennsylvania. Students in speech events competed in four preliminary rounds on Thursday. The top 12 in each event advanced to the semifinal round on Saturday and the top six advanced to the final round.
The team will head to the National Catholic Forensic League's Grand National Tournament in Washington, DC in May. Bridget and Sophia will compete again as a team in Duo Interp, Eve and Jenna will each compete in Original Oratory, and Jared will compete in Dramatic Performance.