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Ten Prairie High forensics students on to state

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Members of the 2022-23 school year Prairie du Chien Forensics team. Front row (l-r) Aliya Earle, Isaac Hoffman, and Karina Sepe-Palacios. Row two (l-r) Marie Achenbach, Makayla Steger, and Coach Mary Stoeffler. Row three: Chaya Blackburn, Laura Strurmer, Ashlyn Jenks, and Allison Mathies. Row four: Rita Achenbach, Elle Shnieder, Amelia Graham, Gracie Gibbs, Ellia Oesterle, and Evie Eastman.(Contributed photo)

By Melissa R. Collum

Mary Stoeffler did not have to think twice before taking on the job as Prairie du Chien high school forensics coach. In 1982 she graduated from high school and forensics was in her blood. Stoeffler’s oldest daughter, Anna,  excelled in forensics and got golds all four years of high school. Working with and being mentored by Kayla Mezera from the start, Stoeffler states she learned so much about coaching from their years together. “After Kayla’s passing I thought,I have to keep going with this. It is in your blood and it is a passion,” notes Stoeffler. “It is for the kids and it is a win-win for me.”
Currently, Stoeffler coaches alone but she would like another coach to assist her with the team. “It is time consuming picking the pieces. The students don’t really realize the amount of time it takes and all the things that are needed to do well,” observes Stoeffler. “I also teach them about the professionalism; about how important is in how they look and act.”
Stoeffler has known many of these students from when she coached at Prairie Catholic. She states that watching them grow and develop as people and public speakers is wonderful. “When I think about some of the students I had, like Makayla, and how in the 6th grade she would just shake when she was speaking. Now it is her second time going to state.“
For these students making time for forensics is important to them. Rita Achenbach began public speaking in 4H with speaking contests. “I wanted to take that into high school. It is great to learn how to speak in general. It will help you in the future with your career.” Laura Strurmer expresses that forensics is more than just speaking. “I feel like forensics is a self portrait of yourself. You are able to choose what matches up with your history, your personal values. It is a way to put yourself out there. I would tell anyone to put themselves in forensics because it is really good for you.
There are 15 students on the Prairie du Chien forensics team. All fifteen went on to district. Ten out of the fifteen students are going on to state. In order to move on at each level students must receive qualifying scores.  “When students go to sub-district they read for three individual judges. They have to get two 16 points to go on to district competition,” notes Stoeffler “From district you have to get two 21’s out of 25 points to go to state. When you go to state you only speak  in front of one judge.”
There are 19 categories that students can choose from and the Prairie team will be competing in five of those categories. The ten students who are moving on are: Chaya Blackburn, Allison Mathies and Karina Sepe-Palacios, in Poetry, Makayla Steger in Farrago, Marie Achenbach, Rita Achenbach and Laura Sturmer in Prose, Aliya Earle Informative Speech, Ellia Oesterle and Issac Hoffman Group Interpretation.
When asked about how they choose their topics there are a variety of rationales. For Aliya Earle it is about finding something you are passionate about. “I choose informative speech, which is about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, because it is great to educate people on something that you are passionate about. I learned about all the things that happened in her life and all the cases that impacted pay and other things.” The importance of being part of a group is why Gracie Gibbs picked her performance venue. “I picked group interpretation because it is fun to be in a group. It is hard to express a story as one person so when you are in a group you are able to laugh together and express it better than when you are your own.” Ellia Oesterle is in Group Interpretation and she and her forensics partner Issac Hoffman, choose a different approach to the category. “Our piece is about the environment and how we are treating our world and leaving it for the next generations,” comments Oesterle, “and how we need change. Usually Group Interp is light hearted. It is was different that we did a very informative and serious piece and I really enjoyed it.”
For many of the students on the team there is an understanding that being in forensics is developing life long skills. Gracie Gibbs notes that “Being able to speak in public is a very important skill and not a lot of people have that skill. It makes you present yourself in a better way. You can speak up for yourself and speak up in a room. A lot of people are silent, because they are scared, so they don’t speak up. I think it should just be know that public speaking should be a very good skill. You learn a lot of stuff you need in life.”
The important of those speaking abilities has not been lost on Makayla Steger who will be attending Winona State University next year. “Forensics has really helped me to come out of my shell and learn how to talk to people. It helped me break out because I was very introverted. I could barely talk when I started high school, I did not want to talk in front of people.” Steger will be competing at State in the category of Farrago. In this category the reader must select material from a variety of literary genres (poetry, short stories, speeches, essays, drama, novels), which addresses a central specific theme or emotion, and to interpret the material through oral presentation.
Stoeffler would like the community to see the hard work the students have put in on their pieces. “ I would like them to perform for the community,” states Stoeffler. “I would like them to be invited to speak at the Women’s Civic Club and the Rotary to perform. It would make a different for the student and the community. If groups want anyone to read, just have them contact me.”
When asked what she would like the community to know about forensics Stoeffler stated “It is not just about speaking, it is about the whole student and developing their confidence. Everyone has their passion and everyone has a talent, you just have to find it. It might be sports, it might be music, it might be speaking.”
The students who qualified for State will compete in DeForest on April 21.

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