Daily Sitka Sentinel

High School DDF Teams Earn Top Spots at Haines

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High School drama, debate and forensics teams claimed a number of top spots, and made finals in most events at a meet Friday and Saturday in Haines.
Sitka took only seven students to compete against schools from Mt. Edgecumbe, Wrangell, Haines, Thunder Mountain, Juneau and Ketchikan. MEHS took 13, half of its team.
Sitka High School
Coach Stefanie Ask said she’s splitting up the team for the smaller meets, instead of taking the full complement of 30 DDF members.
“It’s just the way the numbers worked out,” she said. But she said the team was still very competitive in a number of events, including oration and debate, where members took first place.
“Every single one of the seven finaled in at least one event, which is fantastic,” she said.
Ask said she was pleased to see freshmen Quinlyn Holder and Maddy Quealy enjoying success, with a third-place finish in duo interpretation of literature. The debate team of Owen Fulton and Evan Ipock took first place.
Ask said she was particularly proud that Evan and Owen took the more challenging side in the debate on the minimum wage increase by arguing against it.
“Most teams requested the affirmative side instead of the second speaker,” Ask said. “The affirmative side won 70 percent of the time – that’s a sign the affirmative had the advantage on this particular resolution. The fact that Owen and Evan won the meet says to me they were doing an excellent job debating the topic on the harder side and doing a good job.”
The coach said she was also pleased with the performance of the Reader’s Theater team which took second with the piece “Kickass Librarian,” by Jason Wilkins.
“The Reader’s Theater they’re working on is very cute,” Ask said. “As long as they continue to polish it for the rest of the season they should do well with it. ... Hopefully they will have a strong trajectory for the rest of the season.” She said the piece is a humorous take on the ultimate power and authority of the librarian.
She said Owen Fulton also challenged himself by crafting an oration piece on the topic of civil forfeiture, and took first place in that category.
“He’s doing a great job with it,” Ask said. “He’s taking a pretty dry and unknown topic and making something interesting with it.”
Evan, who is a sophomore, said he was pleased to see the new Reader’s Theater do so well in its debut meet. He is joined on the piece by Addie Fowler, Shelby White and Zak Wright.
“In the first round we decided we were going to go as hard as we could, and do the best we could, and it turned out good, great even,” Evan said. The SHS debate squads finished first and third, which Evan attributed to solid preparation in the weeks leading up to the meet.
The rest of the results were as follows:
Public Forum Debate – 1. Owen Fulton and Evan Ipock; 3. Addie Fowler and Zak Wright
Speaker Points – 2. Owen Fulton; 4. Zak Wright
Oration – 1. Owen Fulton; 5. Addie Fowler
Extemporaneous Speaking – 2. Owen Fulton
Extemporaneous Commentary – 3. Zak Wright
Pantomime – 4. Shelby White
Duo Interpretation – 3. Quinlyn Holder and Maddy Quealy
Reader’s Theater – 2. Addie Fowler, Shelby White, Zak Wright and Evan Ipock
Ask said the team is raising money for the rest of the season by running the Whalefest Cafe Nov. 7-9 at Centennial Hall.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School
Mt. Edgecumbe took 13 students to the Haines meet, their second of the year.
“As a MEHS first for the DDF team, all 13 students advanced to the final round in at least one of their pieces,” said coach Marcy Drake. MEHS took about half of the squad to the meet, with the traveling team comprised of novices and seasoned actors.
“I am particularly grateful for those team veterans who have stepped up to teach the less experienced students how to prepare and perform well,” Drake said.
Among the highlights of the meet was a third-place finish for Aana Rangitsch of Anchorage in humorous interpretation. The piece, “Nail Salon,” is about a woman who encounters some language barriers.
Rangitsch was also part of the team which placed fourth in Reader’s Theater for the piece, “Skippyjon Jones.”
“Aana brought this team together and developed creative cohesion among the members,” Drake said. “Aana is always prepared and willing to experiment with her performances.”
Governor Hootch of Anchorage placed second in original oration, the coach said, with a speech advocating for people to be true to themselves and in doing so becoming authentic contributors to society.
“A quality oration is honest and Governor’s is honest and personal,” Drake said. “I think that is the appeal of his speech.”
Haley Shervey of Craig placed second for her dramatic interpretation of literature in which she portrays a poignant scene from “Night,” by Elie Wiesel. Haley and David John of Bethel also placed sixth in debate.
“Haley sets high standards for herself and works diligently to achieve her goals,” the coach said.
Other MEHS Results
Duet Acting: Sabrina Michael of Kwethluk and Millie Nanouk of Unalakleet placed 4th. Breezi McClenahan of Sitka and and Sally Yang of China were 6th.
Extemporaneous Commentary: Hayley Stumpf of Craig placed 4th.
Reader’s Theater: Aana Rangitsch, Vasilla Fisher of Kwethluk, David John and James Phillips of Sitka were 4th; and Millie Nanouk, Breezi McClenahan, Hayley Stumpf and Zack Curran of Anchorage were 6th.
Solo Acting: Sabrina Michael was 4th, and James Kelly of Pilot Station took 7th.