Mount Vernon was the host of the WaMac East Individual Event Speech Contest Feb. 12. The team placed second out of 8 schools, with West Delaware capturing first. “The Houyhnhnms” as they call themselves, for apparently being speech enthusiasts, they know how to pronounce their name, earned 4 gold medals, 4 silver medals, 2 bronze medals and placed in the top five in 10 of the 14 categories.

Nearly 200 people volunteered for the event, including nearly 70 high school students, a dozen middle school students and a half-dozen elementary aged students.

In addition, five students have been nominated to Large Group All-State, the highest recognition in Speech for their work. Zak Moran, Christian Mlynarczyk, and Connet Croghan have been invited to perform Improvisation. Annabeth Lucas, and Seamus Taylor were nominated to attend for Ensemble Acting (with David Mamet’s Oleanna.) The students will travel to Ames to attend and compete at the All-State Festival the weekend of Feb. 18-19.

Pictured are Sophomores Tanner Mote and Hannah Ganzel patrolling the halls for the speech contest Feb. 12.