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Two Slinger HS students headed to National Forensics Tournament | By Samantha Sali

May 16, 2019 – Slinger, WI – Two Slinger High School students, Jordan Lee and Mason Amidon, are heading to the 2019 National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament on May 25, 2019.

Two Slinger HS students headed to National Forensics Tournament | By Samantha Sali

“There will probably be about 4,000 students and coaches from around the country converging in Milwaukee during Memorial Day weekend,” said Forensics Coach and Slinger High School Guidance Counselor, Susan Gehring. The NCFL Grand National Tournament is being hosted at several locations including Marquette University and MATC.

Lee, a 15-year-old sophomore, and Amidon, a junior, will be performing four times. If the pair scores in the top 20 percent, they will move into Sunday’s competition. “We have great directors and coaches,” said Lee. “They are all very supportive of us and want to see the best for us.”

“We wouldn’t be going to Nationals if it wasn’t for them,” Amidon added.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee and Amidon are competing in Duo Interpretation, a highly competitive category in which the participants have to act out a story to an audience without looking at or touching each other. “There will probably be about 250 entries in the competition just for this category,” said Gehring.

“Our piece is about two friends who met in kindergarten and they made a pact that if they weren’t married by the age of 25, they would marry each other,” shared Lee. “Then you go through their life and Mason’s character, Matt, is more on the feminine side so people make assumptions about his sexual orientation. And my character, Brooke, believes Matt is gay because of standards, but no one ever talks about it in the piece. On their 25th birthday, Matt proposes to Brooke. Basically it’s a hit at toxic masculinity.”

“The piece is saying you don’t have to act a certain way to be labeled straight, or gay, or boy, or girl,” Amidon said. “It’s saying that it’s not how you act, it’s how you feel, that it doesn’t matter how you dance, how you walk, it’s just what your heart tells you. It’s funny, there are some sad parts, and serious parts. It’s why we like the piece so much…and plus, it’s so personal to me and and Jordan. I am definitely not a manly man, so to have a piece that I can relate to and she can relate to as well, is an advantage. I can portray this honestly.”

Regardless of whether or not Lee and Amidon score well at Nationals, it won’t stop them from continuing with forensics and pursing their love of performing arts. Both plan on pursuing a Musical Theater major in college. Amidon plans to double major in education.

Before the interview was over, the duo gave their peers some advice for pursuing forensics. “Try everything in forensics,” said Amidon. “If one category doesn’t work out, don’t give up. That’s what I did and I really regret that.”

“Just keep going,” Lee added. “If you really love it, it’s going to be hard. There were nights where I’d come home and just cry over forensics because I take it very seriously. It’s hard putting your heart and soul into a performance. Just keep working at it. The results will pay off and it will be the best feeling in the world when it does.”

 

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