Wheeling Park High School Student a National Finalist at Speech & Debate Tournament
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Afton Aulick, a member of the Wheeling Park High School Speech and Debate team, became a national finalist at the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Speech and Debate Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin over the weekend.
Over 2,500 students from all over the U.S. competed at the tournament, with 250 competitors in each of ten events.
On Saturday, all participants competed in four rounds. On Sunday the numbers were cut to octo (48), quarter (24), semi (12), and then final (6) rounds. Aulick made it all the way to the final round. A panel of judges awarded her 4th place.
Aulick's event was Oral Interpretation of Literature. In that event she would alternate a prose and poetry selection each round. In her prose -- Voices from Chernobyl, both by Svetlana Alexievich -- Aulick portrayed Ukranian characters caught in the tragic turmoil of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.
Aulick's poetry -- Sleeping and For Eli, by Andrea Gibson -- expressed the difficulty of war on soldiers' families.
When asked about the experience, Aulick stated, "I honestly went into this tournament not expecting to final because very few people do, so I was shocked each time I broke into a smaller round. The time between the end of semi-finals and waiting for finals to be posted was one of the most stressful moments of my life. I finally felt that my work had paid off when I got the message that I advanced to finals.
"It felt so surreal to me, and it still does. I couldn't have done it without my amazing coaches and teammates, who helped me every step along the way," she said.
Aulick and seven other Park speech and debate members qualified for nationals by winning first or second place at the WV State Tournament last March. All successfully competed at the national tournament. The Public Forum debate team of Lillian Bischof and Brenden Sands achieved a winning record of 3-2 as did Lincoln-Douglas debater Marian Moss. Reaching octo-finals were Vance Mazure and Faith Richter in Duo Interpretation and Adam Marquart in Oral Interpretation of Literature. Tino Kayafas quarter-finaled in Original Oratory. The highest win on the team was Aulick's finalist award.
"Afton is a highly talented performer and a hard worker," head coach Bill Cornforth said. "This ultra-competitive tournament on the national level brought out the best in her. It was a thrill to see her keep advancing, and then to see her at the awards ceremony receive her deserved recognition. Reaching the top 6 in a pool of the best 250 in the country is quite a feat."
Afton is the daughter of Dr. Neal and Ginger Aulick of Wheeling. She will be attending Pitt University in the fall, majoring in film studies.