On Saturday, March 22, the New York Mills speech team competed at the Underwood Lions Invitational. Individual awards went to: 

• Payton Lausten – first place in Prose with her Interpretation of Taylor Jenkin Reid’s New York Times Bestselling Novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

• Soren Stout – first place in Discussion (this year’s discussion tasks surround the nature of work post-pandemic).

• Elijah Geiser – fifth place in Poetry with his interpretation of the poem “Ren” by Ren Gills.

• Marissa Uselman – sixth place in Extemporaneous Reading. This year’s selections come from The Moth Presents: All These Wonders and The Name She Gave Me by Betty Culley. Marissa selects a story/poem at random and has thirty minutes to write an introduction and practice reading before presenting in front of a judge. 

• Lilly Anderson – sixth place in Drama with her interpretation of Jerry Rabushka’s monologue Wispy Boy.

• Annabelle Specht – Excellence in Poetry with a collection of poems about accepting negative emotions instead of avoiding them.

• Wolfgang Kawleski – Excellence in Humor with Leon Kaye’s monologue, Cooking on the Street.

• Owen Johnson – Excellence in Extemporaneous Reading. This year’s selections come from The Moth Presents: All These Wonders and The Name She Gave Me by Betty Culley. Johnson selects a story/poem at random and has 30 minutes to write an introduction and practice reading before presenting in front of a judge.