Eight members of our speech team traveled to Lexington, Kentucky April 27, continuing the tradition of excellence at the prestigious, national Tournament of Champions.

During the year, top contestants at major tournaments receive “bids” to compete at TOC. This year, the tournament was comprised of over 700 entries, ten of which were FUHS.

Quarter-finalists include junior Colby Martin in Dramatic Interpretation and junior Hannah Cashin in Original Oratory.

In Program Oral Interpretation, junior Kendal Karcher placed seventh, with junior Lauren Fu in eleventh.

Fu placed sixth in Oral Interpretation. Also entered in Duo Interpretation with partner sophomore Cordelia Tran, the two made FUHS history by being the first Tournament Champion in Duo.  

“It didn’t hit us until someone told us. It’s amazing, that as two minorities, we get to set the bar and make history on our team,” Fu said.

Their piece, “She Kills Monsters” by Qui Nguyen, is a shortened play about a girl learning how to cope with the death of her sister through the game Dungeons and Dragons.

Their relationship is a key role in any success.

“It’s like any marriage. No one does more than the other; you work as a cohesive unit. You love the person, but you will hate them. Hate meaning you want to punch them in the face or tackle them,” Fu said.     

The duo will compete at the official 2017 Nationals in June, but they aren’t concerned about losing or winning.

“When you compete in something like speech, where the judging is so subjective, it has less to do with competition and more of competing against yourself. If we’ve given our best performance and we still lose, then that’s okay,” Tran said.

Good luck to the team in Alabama!