HOMER TRIBUNE/Jane M. Pascall - Soil and Water Conservation expert Al Poindexter explains the different species of tomato plants at his Anchor Point Greenhouse. Poindexter took a team to Environthon and came back with a 1st place finish in the state.

In the statewide Envirothon Competition, students are rotated from state to station to answer practical questions such how much wood composes an area of the forest? What is its habitat value for wildlife? And how does the water stand a test for the pH balance?
These are the kinds of questions – plus a surprise on each year – that students involved in Future Farming programs of America tackle. This year’s pop question dealt with identifying non-point source pollution.
Homer students competing in the annual Envirothon in Palmer took top honors from among 60 statewide students, and now are on their way to the national competition in Pennsylvania.
Instructor Al Poindexter, with the USDA Soil and Water Conservation District, composed a separate team of Homer high school students who traveled along with the Homer High School Future Farmers of America team to the annual competition in Palmer. The competition asks students to answer questions along several categories on habitat and water.
The five who won 1st place, and present Alaska at the national event are, Sachiko Knisely, Ben Knisely, Nicole Poindexter, Emily Schmidt and Lucas Reyes.
Now the students will be raising funds to pay their way to Pennsylvania, where they will compete May 22-23 with teams from all 49 other states and each province of Canada.
The competition, with its questions about finding the Ph balance in water and identifying micro invertebrates, is no easy contest. Yet, placing high for the sixth year in a row and moving on to competition means a consistently motivated group of young people, Poindexter said.
“That really says a lot about the quality of kids in this program,” he said.
The additional four Homer Future Farmers of America students teamed up to participate in this year’s Envirothon. They finished first in the team competition, which qualifies them for the National competition in Indianapolis in the fall. They will be fundraising for this event this summer and fall.
Traven Apiki, Wendy Jones, Brittany Jones and Kenley Kingrey also participated in the FFA Career Development Event, where they received several honors:
Creed Speaking: 1st Kenley Kingrey
Floriculture: 1st Team
Individual Floriculture: 1st, Traven Apiki
Individual Floriculture: 3rd Wendy Jones
Plant Identification: 2nd Traven Apiki
Plant Identification: 2nd, Wendy Jones, Brittany Jones and Sachiko Knisely tied
Floral Knowledge: 2nd, Traven Apiki
Floral Knowledge: 3rd, Emily Schmidt
Corsage: 1st, Wendy Jones
Corsage: 2nd, Kenley Kingrey
Corsage: 3rd, Lucas Reyes
Team Arrangement: 2nd
Team Parliamentary procedure: 1st
Job Interview: 3rd, Emily Schmidt

At the Envirothon, teams of five high school students again compete in field testing using their knowledge in five topic areas – Soils and Land Use, Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Wildlife, and Environmental Issues. A current environmental issue is chosen each year as the “hot topic” for the focus of this station as well as the oral presentation component.
No telling what this year’s hot topic will be, but the one at the statewide competition involved answering a question about non-source point pollution.
Students are exposed to scientists and experts in the fields of environmental science and ecology who will coach and guide their learning experience. Teams will first compete in a county Envirothon, with winners advancing to the state contest where over $10,000 in scholarships and prizes are awarded. State winners earn the chance to compete at the Canon Envirothon, North America’s largest high school natural resource education competition, and a chance to win scholarships and Canon products.

Melissa Cloud and her fourth-grade class

Homer Language Arts Teacher Sean Campbell won BP Teacher of the Year Award 2012 for the Kenai Peninsula, and two other Homer teachers were also named for the honor.
Melissa Cloud and Shellie Worsfold, both West Homer 4th grade teachers, were honored as was Patrick Nolden, a teacher at Soldotna High School.
Campbell said the award focuses on teachers who inspire their students. In his case, he feels equally inspired by them.
“The direction I’m always trying to take my classes in is (the hope) that students will find the joy in literature and that they will find power and beauty in their words and the words of others,” Campbell said Monday morning. “I hope they will question. That’s what I try to emphasize in trying to make studies relevant to their lives, and to ask what is important? What can they learn about themselves, others, our society and our history.”

Shellie Worsfold and her fourth-grade class

Campbell plans on continuing his masters degree in Educational Leadership with his monetary award.
The 17th Annual BP Teachers of Excellence awards were presented at the Peninsula Conference Center in Soldotna on May 3.
Cloud and Worsfold plan to take their $500 each and combine it, along with a $1,500 Department of Natural Resources grant awarded to 4th grade teacher, Lyn Maslow, to purchase 12-15 digital cameras for the school. (The DNR grant gives $500 to each teacher).
The three teachers form a collaborative team for the entire fourth grade. Worsfold credits the teaching trio’s team efforts as the secret ingredient to their combined teaching excellence.
“I am fortunate to work with a team of exceptional teachers,” Worsfold said. “We’re diverse, but similar enough, to mesh well.”
Worsfold has taught 14 years, two at West Homer, five at K-Beach Elementary and seven at Tustumena Elementary. Through the years, she kept trying to move to Homer, where she knew the community matched her own interests. But it wasn’t until her husband, an air flight controller, won a position at the Homer Airport that the move was made possible.
Cloud has lived in Homer 28 years, and has served 22 years as a teacher. She began in Homer at the Homer Intermediate School in 1990, with all but two years here. From 2006-2008, she mentored new teachers from kindergarten through high school on the island of St. George to Bethel to throughout the Yupiit School District. Her husband, Dave, also taught and retired in 1999.
Students clamored to offer their ideas for why Mrs. Cloud and Mrs. Worsfold deserved the BP Teaching Excellence Awards:
“Mrs. Cloud is awesome. She’s teaching me geometry,” said Daylynn Yenny. “We learn a lot about marine life. The other day we went to Mud Bay and Beluga Slough.”
Evan Holstead said he has learned a lot about marine invertebrates in Mrs. Cloud’s class. “She’s taking us for three days and two nights across the bay where we’re going to learn all about the ocean.”
“She’s the best teacher I’ve ever had, since I was in kindergarten,” said Paige Sarratt, speaking of Worsfold.
“She has great teaching skills,” said Travis Coffey of Mrs. Worsfold. “She’s kind and caring for each one of us.”

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Students came from all over the Kenai Peninsula to form a 240-piece band.

When the Kenai Peninsula Borough Middle School Mass Band Concert is in the practicing stages, band teachers have a challenge at hand to teach an ambitious slate of music to their many students, beginning in February.
Then comes the big concert, the massive undertaking of bringing all bands in the district together as one powerful sound made up of 240 instruments. Each spring, all seven middle schools come together. This year, Homer Middle School was joined by Chapman, Ninilchik, Nikiski, Kenai, Soldotna and Seward in practice and performance May 1 at Homer High School.
“It’s a big effort, one of the highlights of the year,” said Homer Middle School Principal David Larson.
Homer Middle and Homer High School Band teacher Amy Christianson helped plan the largest band event by introducing her own former band teacher to the district: Clinician Russell Veale has followed a rich and varied teaching career for 34 years. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Houghton High School, the Michigan School Board District Teacher of the Year Award and was a Michigan Blue Ribbon Teacher. All that, plus he was Christianson’s mentor, the teacher who influenced her most.
“When (Kenai Central Band Teacher) Renee Henderson puts the big picture stuff together for Mass Band, we are asked about possible clinicians,” Christianson said. “I tossed in his name. (Russell Veale) was my band teacher from the time I was in the 6th grade until I graduated. New names are always good, and we brought him up here.”
Christianson, who graduated from Saginaw Valley State University in May of 2009 with her degree in music education, gave a special introduction to Veale for the concert audience.
It was a long day’s work for all the 240 students. They gathered at 8:30 a.m. at Homer High School. Over the winter, each school band learned two pieces they would play as an individual school. Then, they are given three songs to practice that will be played en masse.
“They are responsible for practicing and knowing the songs. There is only one day of rehearsal for all of them together,” Christianson said. “That way, they are not learning it then. The clinician then can start working on more of the nuances. He works on the balance. Some schools have 15 bands members and now they are in a band of 240. He works to blend and he’s listening for the parts, making sure they are doing the dynamics and the tempo changes together.”
The 4-1/2 hours of rehearsal time is broken up by stories Veale tells the students from his long musical career. They break each hour, and lunch is in there as well. The day is meant to be inspirational, showing the students what they can do with music as a large body dedicated to each song.
The “clinician” acts as the conductor for the Mass Band Concert, which meant taking that gym full of students, most of whom had never met before, and coordinating them through three complex pieces.
He chose “Emblem of Victory” by Elliot del Borgo, “Above the World” by Rob Grice and “Majestia” by James Swearingen.
Veale won Christianson’s heart and admiration as her mentor for many years. He taught band when she joined in the sixth grade. Then, in her junior year, Veale let her co-teach with him.
At the close of the concert, it was Veale’s turn to say thank you. He told the parents his pleasure in seeing Alaska for the first time and “for the joy of letting me teach your children.”

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Drake Thomas, (LEFT) and Kyle Carroll (RIGHT), pause barely a moment before ringing the buzzer to answer a complex math question. Thomas is the day's champion; he goes to nationals in Florida next month.

If the math team ordered seven, eight-slice pizzas, what is left over after 41 slices are eaten?
To get there, multiply seven and eight to get 56, and then subtract 41, to get 15. Easy enough, as far as questions go at the Middle School Math Meet.
Yet, contenders from Seward to Nanwalek who participated in the annual math competition answered many such questions before teacher Derek Bynagle was even finished reading them aloud.
How about this one: If you have 24 Democrats, 32 Republicans, four independents and only one senator is selected, what is the random probability that the senator is a Republican? Express your answer in a common fraction.
Did you come up with 8/15th of a chance? You may be a Math Whiz too.
Drake Thomas came up as the top finisher among a gym of math champs Friday afternoon at Homer Middle School. The seventh grader is now en route to the National Math Championship in Florida, after finishing first in the state two weeks ago in Anchorage.
This is the seventh-annual event, co-hosted by  the Kachemak Bay Branch of Kenai Peninsula College and Homer Middle School. It is based on the Alaska and National Math Counts program.
Math Counts is  a program designed to excite and challenge middle school students through fun, challenging competitions and math activities. An official Math Counts meet is not currently offered on the peninsula because it must be sponsored by a local branch of the American Society of Professional Engineers. There is no local ASPE branch to contribute to the awards.
The meet accommodates some 90 seventh and eighth graders, with a few sixth-grader contenders. The ultimate goal is to inspire these students to focus on math-related careers and engineering in college or trade school.
John Jones, a sixth grader from Nikolaevsk, was getting a head start on math meets for the next two years when he enters junior high. He’s well beyond his grade level in understanding mathematical concepts.
“In every job, you need math, even if it’s a little bit,” he said. “If you haven’t studied math, you won’t get a high-paying job. You’ll have to work at a fast food restaurant and make a minimum wage.”
Jones says math goes with science like reading goes with writing.
“You have to do math to be good at science,” he said.

Sprint Round Winners:
1. Drake Thomas, Kenai Middle School
2. Jayce Miller, Connections
3. Aurora Waclawski, Homer Middle School
4. Mikaela Salzetti, Kenai Middle School

Target Round Winners:
1. Drake Thomas, Kenai
2. David Beck, Kenai
3. Jayce Miller, Connections; Aurora Waclawski, HMS; Hunter Harris, HMS
4. August Kilcher, HMS; Raymon Machen, Aurora Borealis; Kyle Carroll, HMS; Kenny Cortez, HMS; Braden Swanson, Aurora Borealis; Toby Randall, Aurora Borealis; Joe Ravin, West Homer.

Team Round Winners:
First Team: Lindsey Schneider, HMS; Drake Thomas, Kenai Middle; Jimmy Gao, Connections; Diana Gaedecke, Chapman.
Second Team: Jayce Miller, Connections; Joel Carroll, West Homer; Emily Coble, HMS; Caleigh Jensen, Kenai
Third Team: Ean Atchley, Kenai; Braden Swanson, Aurora Borealis; Taylor Sheldon, Kenai; Levi King, West Homer
Fourth Team: Kyle Carroll, HMS; Avery Hieber, Kenai; Julianne Wilson, Kenai; Lauren Jones, HMS
 
Countdown Round:
1. Drake Thomas, Kenai Middle
2. Jayce Miller, Connections
3. August Kilcher, HMS

Photo by Jenny Neyman - Akane Fugimura, hosted by Tara Schmidt, of Homer, gives a presentation about Japan and sings for the audience at the annual AFS dinner March 25 at the Catholic Church in Kenai.

The Salzetti family sat down to a dinner experience March 25 that, for them, has become somewhat typical in the past eight months, but for most Americans would be far from the norm.
Instead of a casserole or Hamburger Helper, the menu included “fak tong gaeng” — a Thai pumpkin soup made creamy with coconut milk and lemon grass — and “yum naier” — a cold beef flank steak salad flavored with lime juice, fish sauce, mint leaves and fresh cilantro. Discussion was wide-ranging, from art and history in Europe to cultural festivities in Latin America, reconstruction efforts in Japan and differences in educational systems the world over.
Musical performances, dance and artwork enlivened the meal, but did not come via the TV or Internet. The multicultural experience was much closer to home — in fact, staying in their home — in the form of an international exchange student through the AFS program.
The Salzettis, of Kenai, are hosting Chotika “Ploy” Khowcharoen, from Thailand, this school year, and have been enjoying the multicultural flavor she brings to their family since August, as have the families hosting the other eight AFS students on the Kenai Peninsula this year — from Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway, Japan, Thailand and Paraguay.
“For us it’s been absolutely wonderful. She’s really fit into our family very well. She’s just an amazing girl,” said Theresa Salzetti.
About 130 other members of the community got a taste of what it’s like to participate in the exchange program by attending the 32nd annual AFS dinner March 25 at the Catholic Church in Kenai. For the bargain price of $20, attendees were treated to a four-course meal with dishes representing each exchange student’s home country, listened to presentations from the students about their countries and were given the option to participate in a silent auction, all to raise money for the students and their host families to enjoy some special activities.
For the students, AFS (American Field Service — started by young Americans in Paris who became volunteer ambulance drivers in World War I) provides an opportunity to travel, improve their English skills, experience American culture and the exoticness of life in Alaska — as Ploy said during her presentation, she was not quite prepared for the shock of the cold and snow.

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter - Volunteer chefs are busy with prep work March 24 for the annual AFS dinner March 25 at the Catholic Church in Kenai. From left are Kelly Keating, Debbie Boyle, Margaret Moran and Gerri Litzenberger.

But Salzetti said it’s really her family that’s getting the better part of the deal. Not only has Ploy exposed the Salzetti kids to the wider world, she’s been a joy to have as part of the family — helping the kids with schoolwork, cooking authentic Thai cuisine and just generally adding some spice to their everyday life.
“What amazes us the most is the guts that these kids have. She said goodbye to Mom and Dad and made it from Thailand all the way to Anchorage by herself. There wasn’t anyone meeting her saying, ‘You need to get on this plane over here,’ she did it all — and they all did — by themselves,” Salzetti said.
The family aspect of the program is readily apparent at the annual dinner. Many who attend have had some connection with AFS in the past — as host families and parents of kids who participated in an exchange.
The Kenai Peninsula has one of the most active AFS programs in the state, most years hosting as many or more students as other areas, including Fairbanks and Anchorage. This year there are six students on the central peninsula and three in the Homer area. Next year the Kenai Peninsula program may host students from Russian and surrounding countries under a new scholarship program, said Eileen Bryson, co-chair of the Kenai, Soldotna and Nikiski chapter of AFS. The peninsula also will host at least one Muslim student, and possibly a few more, as that’s a new focus from the State Department.
“I just think it would be great,” Bryson said. “The one applicant I looked at from Jordan sounds like a great student. She wants people to know Muslims are peace loving and she wanted to make sure that came across, and she wanted the experience of learning about another culture. And that goes for all the programs. There’s a motto for the mission of AFS: Work toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools and communities through a global volunteer partnership.”
The dinner itself operates with the help of the extended AFS family. The exchange students as well as their host siblings are the servers for the meal, taking orders for the several menu options, bringing out and retrieving dishes and refilling water glasses. This being the 32nd dinner, decorations are reused from year to year, though new students bring new design challenges.
As busy as the service is, the food preparation is even more so. AFS students, host families and volunteers present, past and future show up and start cooking and decorating the day before the event. Chef Gerri Litzenberger, who ran Through the Seasons restaurant, in Soldotna, where Buckets is now, was recruited to help cook years ago by Bryson.
“It’s fun because everybody’s so happy and eager. It’s just very fun to cook with a group of people because it’s a great cause to raise money for these kids and their families,” Litzenberger said

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Nina Ellington explains the building marvel, Burj Khalifa, the most modern structure in the world.

In case the Taipei 101 Financial Center in Taiwan isn’t a structure you’ve visited, it was ranked as the world’s tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. It looks like upside down green planter boxes heaped to towering heights.
Aiden Pullman, a fourth grader at Homer Fireweed Academy, created a model of the Taipei from the shiny boxes, using an ascending order to convey the narrowness and height as it towers up to a narrow spire.
Next door, Nina Ellington gives a rendition of wonder that beat out the Taipei, the Burj Khalifa in Iran. Its piping soars 2,717 feet, enough space to house 900 apartments, Ellington wrote.
These were among the world’s wonders as Fireweed Academy held its annual Structures Fair Wednesday, concurrently with the West Homer Elementary Science Fair.
Six weeks of research, writing and construction culminated in last week’s Fireweed Academy Structures Expo, said Administrator Kiki Abrahamson. The models, along with story boards explaining projects, were on display while students answered questions on each structure’s distinct traits.
Lunch tables abounded with world marvels of architecture-turned-into- marvels of third-sixth graders’ creative imaginations.
Simon Lopez sat before the Taj Mahal, a romantic creation of boxes and papier-mâché domes realistic even on its foundation of a pizza box from Fat Olives.
“We made this box because none of the others was shaped right,” Lopez said. “We finished it off this morning because it was hard to get it right.”
Elan Carroll’s Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria, is an ancient work now long erased from its island. The tower was built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt.
“Its purpose was to guide sailors into the harbor at night,” Carroll explains, while visitors admire the millions of sugar cubes it took to form its square wedding-cake like base and modern-like tiers. Rising to 450 feet, “It was the world’s tallest structure at the time. It was important to everyday life because Alexandria was the center of world.”
Carroll shows his carefully crafted lighthouse at the top. “They left a torch burning all night and carried wood up to the top to furnish the fire,” he said.
The students were able to recreate models of the world’s important structures with certain suggestive materials: Michael Butts’ Parthenon was instantly recognizable, built of paper towel roll columns topped and bottomed in flatness to show a simple Greek design for strength that has outlasted the centuries.
Solstice Kraszeski used pipe cleaners and molded styrofoam to recreate the Seattle Space Needle. “See, it’s slightly bent here, not a perfectly upright circle,” she indicates by the slight slant.
Others used elaborate materials like Kimberly Lynn’s Golden Gate Bridge. It’s an actual model built of wood, cables and hot glue rising over a body of water created by blue frosting.
Katie Clark’s London Eye is a bicycle wheel minus the tire, rotating with its spool-size containers meant to allow 800 people aboard for a unique view over London.

Lilli Johnson and Aurora Waclawski

The Homer Middle School Geography Bee was a lot of fun for all of the 53 students who participated. Students started by meeting in the library for the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 16.  The 27 participants who passed the preliminary round went on to compete in the final round on Thursday, which was followed by a pizza lunch for all the spectators and competitors. I’d like to congratulate our champion, Aurora Waclawski, our runner up, Lilli Johnson, and everyone who turned out for the event. Being one of the participants, I know that this wasn’t easy, but was still a great experience. Of course, a little pizza at the end didn’t hurt anyone, either.
Written by Elise Webber
8th grade, Homer Middle School

James Gustafson

A 2011 Homer High School graduate, James Gustafson, was nominated for a Spirit of Youth Award for his volunteer work with Homer Wilderness Leaders. He was nominated for a 2011 Spirit of Youth Service to Community award. Winners will be announced in January.
Gustafson was the founding board president of the nonprofit when it first formed. He is a driving force in their mission to provide outdoor experiential education to young people in Alaska.
“The reason I enrolled for the first trip they ever went on was when Libby Bushell invited me to volunteer helping with the outdoor trips. We did back backing and camping, and a little bit of climbing,” Gustafson said. It was familiar territory on trails and hikes across Kachemak Bay at places such as Red Mountan. “We did a lot of camping with my family when I was younger, and I had been climbing a lot.”
James is the son of Richard and Nell Gustafson of Homer.
Growing up in Homer, Gustafson said he wasn’t a super athlete but he skied and did cross country running for the training.
This first year after graduation, Gustafson has traveled on climbing trips in California, Colorado and Utah. He is heading for Argentina to work with a tourism guiding group, then plans to attend university at Fort Lewis College next fall.
Also nominated for a Spirit of Youth Award is the Homer Youth Community Gay Straight Alliance. This is a youth-led group committed to providing a safe space for local LGBTQ youth. The Alliance promotes diversity and acceptance, and supports youth to lead healthy, happy and safe lives. The alliance was nominated in the category of service to community.
Last year’s Spirit of Youth award winner was Cody Gaines, a 2010 Homer High School graduate.

Photo provided - HoWL participants made a film on leaving no trashy traces behind in the wilderness.

Homer’s HoWLers are howling more loudly than ever, summoning an “Evening of Adventure” that will take Homer on a virtual expedition into the wild.
Homer Wilderness Leaders, known as HoWL, just completed its third season of bringing kids into the mountains and woods of Alaska on two-to-seven-day expeditions including hiking, camping, backpacking, mountain biking, rafting, canoeing, rock climbing, surfing and mountaineering.
“An Evening of Adventure with HoWL” at 7 p.m. Saturday at Islands and Oceans Visitor Center is a chance to view original films of the Homer outdoor group and take part in an auction to purchase great deals on bear viewing trips, wholesale seafood, outdoor adventures on Kachemak Bay and 70 other items.
The point of the program goes beyond getting kids outside, said HoWL director and founder Libby Bushell.
“All HoWL courses focus on wilderness leadership, survival, and environmental stewardship. We inspire confidence and build character, as well as encourage creativity, zaniness, laughing and getting muddy.”
The HoWL craze is catching on. This summer, HoWL brought more than 120 kids on 14 wilderness expeditions, including a three-day climb and surf trip which combined rock climbing and stand-up paddle boarding with Surf Alaska; and a seven-day canoeing and backpacking trip to Skilak Lake in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
In 2012, HowL also launched its DiRtBaG program (Discount Rates to Boys and Girls), wherein a dozen students picked up nearly 2,000 pounds of litter during Homer Clean-Up Week, and raised $2,000 for their own HoWL scholarships. HoWL also started the Day Trippers Program to incorporate easier, low-cost day trips into the summer program.
This summer, HoWL kids also learned about the art of film making, by creating two movies: one general film about HoWL and another teaching Leave No Trace principles.
The two films features Homer’s very own emerging movie stars in some funny, often zany, sometimes daring, always inspiring footage in the field.
HoWL will premier its two films as part of its “Evening of Adventure.”
HoWL will screen Sweetgrass Productions’ latest ski film: “Solitaire,” a backcountry ski and snowboard film that takes viewers deep into the remote high desert of South America, along the length of the continent from Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, to the spires of Argentina’s legendary Las Lens, to some of the most remote regions of Chilean Patagonia.
At its Saturday event, HoWL will be announcing its expedition schedule for summer 2012, and auctioning off several HoWL trips to get even more young people into the mountains and woods of Alaska.
“We thought this would be a great time for the kids to premiere their films and show off their amazing accomplishments from this summer,” said Bushell. “And the HoWL auction is a great way to get hot deals on holiday gifts that support HoWL.”
Cost $10 general admission, $8 for HoWLers, all proceeds benefiting HoWL. For more information, visit www.howlalaska.org.

Photo provided - Homer High Drama Debate and Forensics team edged South High School by one point to place first at the Eagle River DDF Tournament over the weekend.

Nineteen students from Homer High School competed in the Eagle River Drama, Debate and Forensics tournament this weekend. Homer students did very well as a team, finishing in first place overall. They also earned several individual-student awards. Homer finishers are as follows:
 
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Adi Davis – 5th place in Speaker Points, Quarter-Finalist
Public Forum Debate
Casey Parrett – 6th place in Speaker Points
Casey Parrett and Adella Sundmark – Semi-Finalist
Expository Speaking (Informational)
Jonas Noomah – 2nd place
Neal Wimmerstedt – 6th place
Original Oratory (Persuasive)
Jacob Mayforth – 1st place
Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
Trevor Waldorf – 1st place
Adi Davis – 3rd place
Dramatic Interpretation
Casey Parrett – 2nd place
Adella Sundmark – 5th place
Humorous Interpretation
Theo Noomah – 1st place
Johnny Hamilton – 2nd place
Emmet Meyer – 3rd place
Solo Acting
Drew Turner – 3rd place
Duo Interpretation
Jonas Noomah and Evan Boyer – 2nd place
Duet Acting
Adi Davis and Sydney Paulino – 1st place
Jacob Mayforth and Herman Hannan – 2nd place
Owen Duffy and Neal Wimmerstedt – 3rd place
Reader’s Theatre
Drew Turner, Jacob Mayforth, Shaefer Nielson and Trevor Waldorf – 2nd place
Herman Hannan, Sydney Paulino, Emmet Meyer, Johnny Hamilton, Brittney Bordner and Matthew Meyer – 3rd place
Debate Sweepstakes (All Debate Events)
Homer High – 3rd place
Drama/Speech Sweepstakes (Non-Debate Events)
Homer High – 1st place
Overall Sweepstakes (All Events Together)
Homer High – 1st place (by one point over South)