Grover Cleveland Middle School Forensics Team Sweeps Competition

Grover Cleveland Middle School’s Forensics Team walked away with 14 individual trophies and first place finishes in both declamation and interpretive reading at the Lancer Invitational Tournament held last month at Livingston High School.

The competition awards students for their public speaking ability.

“Practicing to compete in both declamation and interpretive reading during a single competition takes a lot of dedication and hard work,” said Claudia Douris, teacher and forensic team coach for the Caldwell-West Caldwell middle school, in a release.

Douris said the students rose to the challenge, practicing for months to perfect their performances.

Representing Grover Cleveland in the varsity competition were eighth graders Megan West and Lydia Wielgus; and seventh graders Ashvin Nagarajan, Brendan Padover and Alexandra Wertz.

In the varsity competition, Wertz earned first place in the Declamation competition, with Wielgus taking second and Nagarajan earning fourth. For the Interpretive Reading competition, Wielgus earned second place, Padover took third, Wertz took fourth and West earned fifth.

Junior varsity participants included sixth graders Julia Tuck, Jessica Rizzo and DeeAnna Meluso. The junior varsity team swept the top three spots in the Declamation competition, with Meluso taking first, Tuck earning second and Rizzo taking third. The team also swept the Interpretive Reading competition, with Rizzo placing first, Tuck earning second and Meluso earning third.