Though only four Haines High School students competed at last weekend’s Drama, Debate and Forensics home meet, all four took a piece to finals, securing places ranging from second to fifth.
More than 50 students from six schools competed at the tournament, and about 50 volunteers put in time to make the event happen, said coach Amanda Randles.
The DDF team is smaller than last year, with seven members compared to last year’s 13. Also, three students couldn’t compete last weekend because of other activity commitments or illness.
Still, the four students representing Haines pulled through, with sophomore Keegan Palmieri taking second place in Solo Acting for “Deck the Stage,” a humorous piece about a seventh-grader trying to save Christmas trees from being cut down.
Freshmen Tiaya Ruggirello and Sheeshao White took fourth place in Duo Interpretation for “Marriage Phobia,” a comical discussion between two friends about a recent proposal by one of the friend’s boyfriends.
Ruggirello also took third place in Humorous Interpretation for “Camping: Nature’s Way of Promoting the Hotel Industry.” Her presentation earned her a command performance. Those are selected by judges and coaches for another showing at the end of the tournament.
Sophomore Syrena Jackson said the tournament was special for her because it was the first time in her two years on the DDF team that she has gone to finals. “I was shocked,” she said.
Jackson took fifth place in Extemporaneous Speaking, in which students blindly select three topics from current foreign and domestic affairs. They choose one and have 30 minutes to compose a 5-7 minute speech, which they must give without notes.
Advancing through the rounds, Jackson spoke on three topics: “Should Mexico legalize marijuana?”; “Does Russia pose the greatest threat to the United States?”; and “Will Hillary Clinton be the first female president of the United States?”
Jackson said she joined DDF to get better at speaking with people and to learn more about current events. She said she constantly gathers information for potential future extemporaneous speaking competitions by talking to her father, a big news consumer, and by watching CNN Student News.
Coach Randles said while many of the students’ pieces still need a lot of polishing, she was glad to see the group of relatively new participants – all four were freshmen or sophomores – do as well as they did.
“They definitely need more practice; we are only two meets into the year. But generally speaking with these four, they are my greenest. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how prepared they got,” she said.
Seniors Kai Hays and Zane Durr and junior Rachel Haas are on the team but did not compete at the tournament.
Randles said it is hard to have consistent participation across tournaments because DDF spans so many other activity seasons, like basketball and wrestling.
The team’s next competition is in Ketchikan in mid-December. Randles said she hopes to bring five or six students to Ketchikan.
State championships will be held in Anchorage Feb. 18-20.