GREENHILLS FORENSICS TEAM EARNS 2ND AT STATES WITH 41 STUDENTS RECEIVING DISTINCTION
Forty-four Greenhills upper school students traveled to Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek on May 3 and 4 to compete at the 2024 Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association State Finals. Eight returned as state champions, 24 as state finalists, and nine as semi finalists. Overall, the team captured second place in the Class B category—a class level higher than the team has competed in in the past.
“I am incredibly proud of the students on this young team,” said Ben Bellamy, head coach of the Greenhills forensics team. “Despite being the smallest school in Class B, and competing with only one senior, they took on the challenge of moving up a class and proved they are one of the best teams at any level.”
Notably, seven of the team’s eight champions were ninth- and tenth-graders. Despite the team’s youth, it has proven to be strong all season long. In March, it won the Walled Lake Western Invitational for the first time in Greenhills’ history.
“These students have laid the foundation for Greenhills forensics to continue to be a strong program,” added Bellamy. “And they’re winning the right way, with our team establishing our core team principles of hard work, supporting our teammates, and acting like champions. The future of Greenhills forensics is indeed bright.”
Next year’s team will be led by captains Ajay Purohit, Aidan Drain, Sara Raoufi, and Meera Tewari, and vice captains Rebekah Warren, Dhruv Nallamothu, and Kabir Rajendra. They will be joined by a new class of rising ninth graders, many of whom have competed as part of Greenhills’ middle school forensics team that competed at the Middle Level Forensics State Finals on April 27, where 28 were named semi-finalists, 38 finalists, and 15 champions.
2024 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Champions
- Ellie Kim and Nina Malani: State Champions of Duo Interpretation 9/10 (How Much I Love You)
- Erena Almoghaisseeb, Mikah Lowrie-Miuccio, Sunny Rong, Leah Stephany, and Anna Yao: State Champions of Multiple Interpretation (Clue)
- Rebekah Warren: State Champion of Poetry Interpretation (Open Letter: Dear Black Girl)
Finalists
- Kate Miller: 3rd in Broadcasting
- Nicole Zhong: 5th in Broadcasting
- Sophia Kleer & Sophie Chen: 4th in Duo
- Alison Choi & Shreya Shastry: 3rd in Duo 9/10
- Howei Ding & Ishan Leahy: 2nd in Duo Commentary
- Ajay Purohit: 2nd in Extemporaneous
- Aidan Drain: 5th in Extemporaneous
- Peter Prokhorov: 6th in Impromptu
- Hannah Lee: 5th in Informative
- Sophia Hazzi: 4th in Informative 9/10
- Twoey Bullock: 6th in Informative 9/10
- Henry Beck, Jonah Kaplan, Royal Seale, and Zohabe Uzzaman: 2nd in Multiple
- Rykken Vivekanand: 3rd in Program Oral Interpretation
- Alex DaSilva: 4th in Program Oral Interpretation
- Sara Raoufi: 4th in Prose
- Dhruv Nallamothu: Finalist in Prose
- Meera Tewari: 2nd in Sales
- Deeksha Sriram: 5th in Sales
Semi-finalists
- Roger Mariani: Dramatic Interpretation
- Emily Choi & Swati Gupta: Duo
- Abhinav Shastry & Sanjay Potluri: Duo Commentary
- Abraham Zhang: Impromptu
- Mikayla Eccleston: Informative
- Ananya Leahy: Oratory
- Sophie Erb-Watson: Storytelling
State Championship MVPs
One States MVP was selected by team captain Nicole Zhong and vice-captain Aidan Drain, and one by coach Bellamy (with comments by Bellamy):
- Roger Mariani (captain selection): “He joined the team late and threw together an impressive piece in just a month, enough to earn a state semifinal finish, and exuded positivity throughout the weekend.”
- Nicole Zhong (coach selection): “She is the most experienced member of our team and sacrificed participation in her Senior Run to lead the team to glory.”
Barbara Ebeling Service Award
Awarded to the student who best served the forensics community by coaching the next generation of forensics competitors, the middle school team.
2024 Barb Ebeling Service Award Winner: Hannah Lee
“This year—and, in fact, for the past couple years—no one has given more dedicated time and energy to coaching the middle school forensics team than Hannah Lee,” said Bellamy. “This year, we formally named this award after the founder of the Greenhills forensics program, Barbara Ebeling. Hannah absolutely embodies Barb’s spirit of service to this community and is a worthy first recipient of this award.”
