Spring Forensics Showcase Presentations This Evening and Thursday

The McHenry County College Forensics program is presenting a Spring Forensics Showcase at :

7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4

2:30 p.m. on Thursday April 5

7:30 p.m. on Thursday April 5

The Black Box Theatre, Room D167 at the college is the location for this 75 minute program which includes multiple performance of literature and impromptu speaking

The showcases are open to the public. Admission is $5 per person, which will help fund the team’s national competition in April in Schaumburg.

For more information about the MCC Forensics program, contact Bonnie Gabel at (815) 455-8684 or email her at bgabel@mchenry.edu.

MCC Forensics Spring Showcase

The McHenry County College Forensics program will present a Spring Forensics Showcase at 2:30 p.m. on April 4 and 5 and 7:30 p.m. on April 2, 4 and 5 in the Black Box Theatre, Room D167 at the college.

The program is 75 minutes and will include multiple performances of literature and impromptu speaking.

The showcases are open to the public. Admission is $5 per person, which will help fund the team’s national competition in April in Schaumburg.

For more information about the MCC Forensics program, contact Bonnie Gabel at (815) 455-8684 or email her at bgabel@mchenry.edu.

MCC Forensics Team A Winner

The McHenry County College Forensics Team started off spring semester with two MCC students capturing the top two spots in the most competitive event at the recent 2011 College of DuPage Frank-ly Speaking invitational tournament
Team captain Kat Stemple of Marengo (right) took first place and Steve Guardi of Johnsburg placed second in prose interpretation. Stemple’s prose performance from the short story, “Obesity Envy,” considers the flip side of anorexia and was written by MCC alumnae and former forensics team captain, Lauryn Lugo, of Lake in the Hills. Guardi’s prose performance of the short story, “The 86th Street Choppers” chronicles a young man’s search for family through gang violence.

Award-Winning Showcase By MCC Forensics Team

McHenry County College Forensics Team will present a showcase from 7-8:30 p.m. May 4 in the Black Box Theatre in Room D167 at the college, 8900 U.S. Hwy. 14, Crystal Lake.

The showcase will feature the team’s award-winning performances from the 76th Phi Rho Pi National Forensics Tournament in New Orleans where the MCC team ranked fifth in Individual Event Sweepstakes and sixth in Overall Team Sweepstakes, winning Bronze for both categories.

Phi Rho Pi is a national honor association for community college forensics programs.

The 10 members who competed at nationals brought home 12 awards: five Gold, two Silver and five Bronze Awards, including a Bronze Award in two sweepstakes categories.

Team captain Lauryn Lugo, of Lake in the Hills, led the award winners by capturing two Gold Awards in Dramatic Interpretation and Prose Interpretation. Three additional Gold Awards were won by Joe Cusumano, of Lake in the Hills, for Informative Speaking, Jake Pritts, of Johnsburg, for Prose Interpretation and Steve Guardi, of Johnsburg, for Dramatic Interpretation. Two Silver Awards were won by Alicia Artner, of Johnsburg, for Dramatic Interpretation and Cusumano and John Cox, of Woodstock, for Duo Interpretation.

The five Bronze Awards were won by Artner, for Prose Interpretation, Pritts, for Prose Interpretation, Cox, for Poetry Interpretation; Lugo and Artner, for Duo Interpretation, and Kat Stemple, of Marengo, won a bronze for Program Oral Interpretation. Also competing were Antonio Clinton, of Woodstock, Brian Walsh, of Cary; and Becky Weise, of Union.

"We were not only the best school in our region but the schools that placed above us have had long histories of winning at the national level,” said Bonnie Gabel, forensics team coach. “Our program is only seven years old and we stood right next to the schools that are much bigger than us."

Assistant coach, Chris Cox stated, "The California community college system is significantly larger than Illinois and they tend to dominate at the national level. It's just outstanding that our students represented our college and our state with such distinction."

Since the team was in New Orleans on Easter Sunday in advance of the competition, they decided to spend the day in service to the people of New Orleans by volunteering their time serving meals to the homeless at the historic Ozanam Inn. Team captain Lauryn Lugo stated on behalf of the entire team that it was an unforgettable experience and the entire team was deeply moved by the spirit of such a place where people came together to give and receive assistance from each other.

Admission is $5. For more information contact Bonnie Gabel at (815) 455-8684 or email her at bgabel@mchenry.edu.