Bartlett High School hosted eight local high schools last month for the first ever Bartlett Invitational Forensics Tournament. The tournament was sponsored by Kevin Rogers with Bridgett Church as tournament coordinator. Rogers’ students showed up early on a Saturday and acted as hosts, escorts, runners, etc. In addition, the judges were treated to a lunch provided by Bartlett’s Culinary Arts class. Matt Boldreghini’s, the new Culinary Arts teacher, students (Jacob Brooks, John Stevens, Vivian Murphy, Andrew Agravante, Jeremy Hayward, Winston Hayes and Alina Romley) came to school on a Saturday morning, prepared and served lunch to the visiting judges and working students. The schools in attendance included Arlington, Bolton, Collierville, Houston, Madison Academic, Overton, St. Benedict and St. Mary’s. Each school provided judges who were escorted to and from the hospitality areas by students. There were 14 categories, including oratory, storytelling, improvisation, impromptu, television prose and poetry. The students who participate in these tournaments spend long hours finding appropriate pieces and rehearsing and refining their presentations. This tournament is one of many that will take place throughout Shelby County as these young speakers prepare for the district tournament and state tournament in the spring. Overall, Collierville came in first place, followed by Madison Academic and Arlington. The individual winners are as follows: n Oratory 1st – Rachel Hall (Collierville) 2nd – Sofia Tosches (Collierville) 3rd – CJ Crafford (Collierville) n Storytelling 1st – Grace Howell (Madison Academic) 2nd – Dahia Jackson (Madison Academic) 3rd – Sai Dwarempudi (Collierville) n Dramatic 1st – Alma Adams(Madison Academic) 2nd – Alyssa McGillvery (Collierville) 3rd – Rebecca Hunt (Madison Academic n Duet Acting 1st – Griffin/Chase (Arlington High School) 2nd – Wilbanks/Mrock (Arlington High School) 3rd – Jackson/Monteath (Arlington High School) n Humorous 1st – Robin Magee (Madison Academic) 2nd – Alyssa McGillvery (Collierville) 3rd – Lee Heng (Arlington) n Duo Interpretation 1st – Hail/Tomlin (Madison Academic) 2nd – Bookout/English (Arlington) 3rd – Malone/McMinn (Madison Academic) n Musical theatre 1st – Shah/Valadie (St. Benedict) 2nd – Jackson/Griffin (Arlington) n Improvisation 1st – McGee/Tomlin(Madison Academic) 2nd – Wilbanks/Wilson (Arlington) 3rd – Newsom/Jones (Arlington) n Solo 1st – Sophia Toshes (Collierville) 2nd – Olivia Halverson (Bolton) 3rd – Katie Brown (St. Mary’s) n Impromptu 1st – Kyle Van Frank (St. Benedict) 2nd – Emily Johnson (Madison Academic) 3rd – Nathan Combs (Madison Academic) n Television 1st – Jonathan Greer (Madison Academic) 2nd – Sarai Grace Stanford (Houston) 3rd – Betsy John (Collierville) n Extemporaneous Speaking 1st – CJ Crafford (Collierville) 2nd – Saie Ganoo (Collierville) 3rd – Gabrielle Taylor (St. Mary’s) n Prose 1st – Kayla Smith (Collierville) 2nd – Arnika Carter (Madison Academic) 3rd – Caroline Floyd (Collierville) n Poetry 1st – Allison Williams (Collierville) 2nd – Hannah Simmons (St. Mary’s) 3rd – Alma Adams (Madison Academic)
