Prospect High brings home honors from state speech tournament

It should come as no surprise that the same hallways that produced the hit TV show, "Glee" has spawned a state ranked speech team, that won medals for its dramatic interpretation and duet acting, among others.

Prospect High School's speech team placed 7th overall at the IHSA state tournament on Saturday in Peoria, propelled by four teens who made it to the final round and including a state champion.

Senior Laura Winters of Mount Prospect took first place in dramatic interpretation, while senior Evelyn Smith of Mount Prospect was runner up in oratorical declamation.

"The trick is to take someone else's writing and make it your own," says Smith about the speech she delivered. "You're not trying to imitate a speaker. You're trying to make it conversational as opposed to neat and clean and rehearsed."

Junior Nate Werner of Mount Prospect paired with Winters to earn sixth place for their dramatic duet acting, while junior Lauren Matthews of Arlington Heights placed fifth in humorous interpretation, for her performance from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

"The people in the spelling bee are sort of like members of a speech team," Matthews said. "It put me in the right frame of mind. I thought, 'I am one of these characters.' "

Prospect was the only Northwest suburban school to crack the top 10 in the state - as a team.

Individual medalists included Buffalo Grove High School senior Greg Ward who placed third in impromptu speaking, Fremd senior Yale Cho who took second in original comedy, and Rolling Meadows High School junior Abby Horan who placed sixth in prose reading.

"These are the best results in Prospect's history with forensics," said head coach Jeremy Morton. "These are talented and driven kids, who are strong leaders and took us all the way to state."

The last time Prospect had a state champion in speech was in 1993, and before that in 1987. Winters' medal in dramatic interpretation, however, is a first.

To do it, she performed a monologue from "In the Divide," playing a woman addicted to pills as a result of her dysfunctional family.

"I know, it's a downer," Winters says with a laugh. "It's really dark and depressing but there are some lighthearted moments."

Part of her reason for choosing the piece, she says, was the challenge to see if she could convince people she was a woman addicted to drugs. Her friends said she could never do it. Winters set out to prove them wrong.

Working with her coach and her teammates, she analyzed every nuance in the 81/2-minute monologue.

"We dissected every movement," Morton says, "so that she could internalize the character and all her raw and painful emotions."

Winters has appeared in nearly all of Prospect's theater offerings and like her teammates, now is in rehearsal for the spring musical, "Curtains." However, she never dug into a role before like this one.

"I really enjoy acting and I love performing," says Winters, who also plays in the school's marching band. "I guess I just love the challenge of trying to move people."