The MTHS Forensics team is proud to announce that their president, Ananya Bhat, has placed 2nd at Yale Invitational. Every year, Yale University’s Speech and Debate Team hosts over 500 entries from around the world at their campus to compete in student's individual categories. This year, the MTHS Forensics team sent 25 competitors.
After a long weekend of competing in New Haven, CT, from September 29th to October 1st, Ananya Bhat’s hard work paid off as she placed second overall in her category, Humorous Interpretation. Ananya has been a part of the Forensics team for all four years of her high school career, and even was a part of the summer outreach program for speech and debate hosted by the Rec. Department while in middle school. She was elected president of the team this year for her outgoing and hardworking personality. She has been working hard this summer to perfect her piece for the year, and it paid off at the first national tournament of the year.
When asking Ananya how she felt about this accomplishment, she responded, “Forensics is such a huge part of my identity and I enjoy it so much! Interpretation gives me the creative freedom to be myself while also spreading a message through humor and audience connection. I just hoped I would do as well as last year and make it to the semi-finals, but I seriously was not expecting a break to finals at all! When I made it to finals and realized I was top three on stage, I seriously was shocked. It was so unexpected to me. But, I’m even more excited to see where my piece takes me the rest of the season.”
The Forensics team is coached by high school history teacher Justin Scrufari, high school English teacher Alexandra Iemmello, and MTHS Forensics alumna Andrew Prescott. The coaches are so excited to see Ananya’s future successes throughout her senior year.