Anchor Bay Students Win in State Acting, Speaking Competition

students brought home two trophies this weekend after competing in the state finals of a speaking and acting competition held at Oakland University.

The Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association held their annual state finals at the Auburn Hills campus, where approximately 700 students from more than 200 schools across Michigan came to compete in forensics.

The speaking and acting forensics, not the science. 

Forensics has 12 categories split evenly into Interpretation and Public Address; the former being the student performing their own take on a piece of literature, the later being student-written speeches for things like debate, persuasion and selling products.

Actors, speakers come together

"It's wonderful to bring together the whole state, everyone who shares a common love of literature and speech," said Anchor Bay teacher Dawn Battice. Battice is the school's forensics coach, and has been teaching English and drama for 15 years.

"You don't see this mindset on such a big scale very often, and you get to see how people from different regions of the state stylize different works," said Battice.

Two of the 12 students from Anchor Bay that made it to states, after progressing through the district and regional rounds, brought home awards for their acting. Senior Cooper Nicholas, 17, took fourth place and junior Nadeen Nasreddine, 16, walked away with the fifth-place trophy in her hands.

"American Psycho" wins big for Anchor Bay

Nicholas performed in prose from the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho from which the 2000 film starring Christian Bale was based off of.

"I heard about the film and was told it was good," said Nicholas, who plans on attending Oakland in the fall for cinema studies. "I caught it on TV once and I had to check out this book. When reading it, I thought it would be an excellent piece."

"It challenged him on many levels," said Battice, "physically and really emotionally. To connect with and convey a character so different from Cooper would be a challenge."

"Honestly, I think it's finding the piece," said Nicholas, about his favorite part of forensics. "Once you find a piece you want to be dedicated too, it doesn't feel like a hard task; it becomes part of you."

Nicholas had been fighting a cold during the two-day tournament, and accepted his trophy in a full tuxedo. (Due to a scheduling error, the Anchor Bay students had to leave right after the award ceremony to attend their prom.)

"It's very exciting," said Nicholas about winning. "It's a great way to end my year, my career in forensics. A nice note to walk into graduation with."

Judges "Say Yes" to poetry competitor

Nasreddine won a fifth-place trophy for her performance of the spoken-word poem "Say Yes," written by Andrea Gibson, whom Nasreddine recently got to meet.

"Winning a trophy at states is right up there with meeting Andrea Gibson," said Nasreddine. "I mean, regardless of what place any of us got, we were at states. We were finalists and I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids to compete against."

"I couldn't say enough about her piece, she really connected with it," said Battice. Both students had been practicing their performances since Anchor Bay hosted its own tournament on Oct. 30.

"Everyone did amazingly well at states and I absolutely love watching new pieces every tournament and making friends and all of that," Nasreddine added. "I'm pretty pleased with being the fifth-best person at poetry in the state."

Alumni keeps show running

Because Anchor Bay had a lot less traveling to do than in previous years, more of Battice's former students were able to help the tournament run smoothly and coach others in acting.

John Bohn, 19, placed first in the state in prose last year when he was a senior. He's currently going to the University of Michigan for film studies and philosophy.

"I feel like its important for any program to have a strong alumni connection, and I felt like for the progress of the team, they should have the people who have been there come back," said Bohn, who had spent the last week helping students for the big final tournament of the season.

Bryan Braun, 23, graduated in 2005 and helped judged this year's competition. In order to judge at the state level, a person has to go through a judging seminar and judge a certain number of rounds in other tournaments. Braun is now actively involved in community theater and is the head of a improv comedy troupe.

"I used to have a speech impediment as a child, and forensics helped me get over that," said Braun. "I can communicate with people better, I feel better prepared for a job interview or any kind of public speaking. And, it greatly improved my self confidence. It really has helped with who I am."

"I try to tell people its competitive speaking and acting, but its so much more than that," said Braun, when asked about how he explains to people what forensics is.

Curtains won't close yet

Many of the student performers are also involved in the drama program with Battice, and this month, they had their big summer production of Hello, Dolly!

"Really, trying to find the time to do everything equally well can be tough," said Battice. "I'm focused on teaching, the theater, coaching forensics, and my family all at the same time."

While it is the biggest tournament of the year, it's not the last, and Anchor Bay students are now gearing up for the annual Michigan Speech Coaches tournament held each year at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. They head to that tournament on May 19.