Homewood-Flossmoor High school students were welcomed back to campus Sunday, Feb. 18, with a Flossmoor Fire Department escort after winning state honors at the IHSA speech competition in Peoria.
Team members emerged from the bus to cheers from friends and family. There was much to cheer about. The team brought home a third place trophy and three individual championships.
Stella Hoyt is state champion in Dramatic Interpretation. Jazmin Rhodes won top state honors in Oratorical Declamation. Emma Steiner took first place in Impromptu Speaking.
Head Coach Prince Lowe lifted the trophy high as he disembarked the bus.
“This has been a truly remarkable season by all the kids on the team, but definitely the 10 on the individual events team and the six kids that qualified for state,” he said. “They’ve done an amazing job all season long. They just kept growing as individuals and as a team.”
He thanked the coaching staff, H-F administration and the parents for coming together to support the team.
“We all did this together. This is a collective effort,” he said.
The three champions are all veterans. He said this was Stella’s third trip to state competition “and now she’s captured the big prize.”
Emma is in her third year on the team and “this is really a crowning achievement for her.”
“What can I say about Jazmin Rhodes? She’s been on the team all four years. She made it down to state last year, took third place and wanted to come back to finish the job in that event,” he said. “She is just one of the best speech competitors to come out of Homewood-Flossmoor.”
Other team members’ achievements at the state competition included Amy Ward and Stella Hoyt, fourth place in Dramatic Duet Acting; Emma Steiner, 12th place in Extemporaneous Speaking; Chris Albert and Robert Wakefield Jr., sixth place in Humorous Duet Acting; and Amy Ward, sixth place in Prose.
