Dutchtown High wins top honors at speech and theatre festival
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – Dutchtown High School claimed festival sweepstakes at the annual Southeastern
Louisiana University Vonnie Borden Speech and Theatre Festival held on campus recently.
Zachary High School came in second place, while Covington High took third place
in the competition.
In the one-act play competition, Ponchatoula High School claimed first place
with a performance of one act from the play “Our Town” by Thorton Wilder.
Area individual winners included Kristen Swanson of Hammond High for prose interpretation;
Jaela Driver of Covington High, who took first place in original oratory, and Colt
Dutruch, also of Covington High, earning second place honors in extemporaneous speaking.
“This event has been taking place for over 30 years,” said Communication Instructor
Terri Miller-Drufner, who coordinated the event. “And the talent continues to shine
in our area. These students work hard all year and represent their schools in the
competition that could possibly send them to the State Literary Rally.
She said students who achieve superior rankings in their specific categories
qualify for state competition. This year the festival awarded more than 60 superior
rankings to high school students across the region performing in seven speech and
theater event categories.
