Mary Whitfill
Features Editor

Coppell High School sophomore Alex Smith will be competing the National Forensics League (NFL) competition this summer, representing Coppell ISD in the Oral Interpretation category. Performing “The Cult” by John Stewart, Smith is the only CHS student competing in the category.

In order to qualify to participate in the tournament, students had to not only be registered members of the Speech & Debate Honor Society, but they had to place in the top two at their district competition.

“It is very difficult to qualify for nationals as a sophomore,” CHS speech teacher Maleda Kunkle said. “He just started in the fall, but he has been to most of our tournaments and has been performing the same piece for the entirety of the year. He did extremely well, which has begun to pay off for him.”

To prepare for competition, students practice their monologue throughout the year and before all tournaments, with some students choosing to use the same one every time, perfecting it for competition. Using the same piece helps ensure by the time they reach the highest contest level they are as familiar with it as possible, reducing the competition difficulty.

“This whole experience has been a mixture of different difficulties and challenges,” Smith said. “It was extremely hard to get this far, but it was worth every obstacle.”

Accompanying Smith at the NFL competition will be senior Priyanka Krishnamurthy and senior Sarah Mithani, performing in policy debate. They will be debating the topic: “Resolved: that the United States federal government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following: South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey.”

“[The students going to nationals] show that CHS is very supportive of academic extracurricular events and also the fine arts,” debate teacher Glenda Ferguson said. “Also, we are one of the most competitive schools in the North Texas District and I think in the state as well.”

Winners and runner-ups in both categories will be granted scholarships worth up to $10,000. The competition will be held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel from June 13-18.