Lemoore High Speech and Forensics students earn spots in California State Qualifier

Students in Performance Studies and speech programs from throughout the Valley competed at Bakersfield’s Independence High School on Feb. 25 to win spots in the State Speech Tournament. In all 14 Lemoore High students attended the competition in Bakersfield.

Dara Sareda turned in the top performance in the Prose and Poetry competition in Bakersfield. Sareda was named the Valley Champion for her work.

Maggie Franckhauser and Keziah Willis took the second-place spot in Duo Interpretation. John Leavitt finished third in the Valley in Original Oratory, and Moses Taylor was fifth in Impromptu Performance.

Hunter Nash finished sixth in Original Prose and Poetry and is the first alternate for State.

Leading the team to the Qualifying Tourney was Lemoore High’s Matthew Martins, a relatively new Social Science teacher at Lemoore High School, who also serves as the school’s speech coach. He’s helping to build a competitive speech program to support the Lemoore High’s quest for successfully academic teams. 

Currently, the school fields only an extra-curricular team, but Martins is working on establishing a regular class. "The kids have worked really hard (in preparation for this competition). They are amazing kids," said Martins.