Forensics 2009

Laona High School Forensics 2009

The Laona High School Forensics Team of 2009 consists of Senior Matt Koch, Sophomore Heather Zimmer, and Freshmen Chelsie Cleereman, Hillary Connors, and Brittany Smith. The students competed at Wabeno High School at Sub-District in February. All five students earned the opportunity to go on to District competition, where they competed on March 28, at Tomahawk. Their perfect season continues with all five members qualifying for state competition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in April.
Senior Matt Koch is headed for Madison for the fourth year. He is competing in the category of Special Occasion Speech. Matt’s speech is an eight minute nomination speech. In the past Matt has earned two gold medals and one bronze in the category of Moments in History. His goal is to earn his third State gold medal in a row.
Sophomore Heather Zimmer is making her second trip to state level competition. She competes in Farrago, with an eclectic reading of poetry and prose, all with the theme of marriage. As a Freshman Heather competed in prose and earned a silver medal at Madison. This year she wanted to take on the challenge that a variety of pieces with different tones can offer.
The newest members of the LHS Forensics team are Freshmen Chelsie Cleereman, Hillary Connors, and Brittany Smith. In spite of their beginning status in high school forensics, the three have performed together in the category of Group Interpretation with mature poise and excellent skill. Their selections are two comic pieces with the theme “Boys will do the Dumbest Things!”
In addition to competition in Wabeno, Tomahawk, and Madison, the team, coached by Carol Bartlein, will also appear at the Laona Lighted Schoolhouse. For additional practices the students perform their pieces in classes in the high school, junior high, and upper elementary.


Caption - Front Row: (L-R) Heather Zimmer, Brittany Smith, Chelsie Cleereman, Coach Carol Bartlein
Back Row: Hillary Connors, Matt Koch