Philip - The 2010 State Forensics Extemporaneous Speaking Champion

Philip Mulder - State Champion!

The proud parents - could be a Christmas card photo

A good sign - one of Philip's competition rooms had this large moose on the wall

Philip's girlfriend Hannah Sawyer came in 6th place in broadcasting

Philip's friend Bryce Maurer came 4th place in Prose. Philip and Bryce may not have been great soccer players (Bryce's dad and I coached them for four years), but they sure can do public speaking!

Philip and his coach "Snell"

Jim Menchinger coached Philip and also coached Bryan back in 2001.

Nathan Slauer from Grand Rapids Christian High School is one of Philip's good friends and a main competitor all season.

Mary Holtzhauser from Portage Northern came in second in Extemporaneous Speaking

Philip brought home the hardware on Saturday by winning the State Championship in Extemporaneous Speaking. Phil started the year by finishing second in the first two competitions. But through a lot of hard work, he continued to improve and gave one of his best speeches ever in the final round on Saturday.

Grandma and Grandpa came to Mount Pleasant to see Phil in the semi final round. Phil was also selected by his 45 teammates to receive the hardest worker award. We are so proud of Philip!!

P.S. In case you don't know, extemporaneous speaking requires the participants to select a random question regarding current domestic or international issues. They only have 30 minutes to prepare a seven minutes speech. During the 30 minutes, they are allowed to use the internet and prepared research files. They are rated on their analysis of the question, use of sources and delivery.