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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 15, 2006 Butte Falls freshman Heather O�Keefe, 14, is headed to Texas as the first at her school to qualify for the National Forensic League championship. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Butte Falls sends first contestant Heather O’Keefe joins students from Ashland and Eagle Point at the National Forensic League championship in Texas this June By PARIS ACHEN Mail Tribune Six years ago, Butte Falls High School didn’t have a speech and debate program. This year, the rural school of 86 students will send one of its freshmen to a national speech tournament in Texas. Heather O’Keefe, 14, is the first pupil from Butte Falls to qualify for the National Forensic League championship. "Ashland sends students to nationals every year," said Matthew Eldridge, a volunteer assistant speech and debate coach at Butte Falls High School. "This is a historical moment for Butte Falls." Four other students from Jackson County, from Ashland and Eagle Point high schools, will join her at the tournament June 18-23 in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas. Advertisement They won their spots at the league’s national qualifying tournament Friday at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The tournament included Oregon schools south of Corvallis. Ashland High School seniors Hunter Gimbel, Lilly Skolnik and Briana Wood qualified in Lincoln Douglas debate and policy debate, respectively. Eagle Point High School senior Jason Doddridge qualified in extemporaneous speaking for the second consecutive year. About 2,000 students from across the nation will vie for a $10,000 college scholarship at the June tournament. Heather will compete in original oratory, giving a speech she wrote about a subject close to home: Down syndrome. Heather’s 9-year-old sister, Devin, was born with the disability. "Many people, including doctors, said Devin wouldn’t be able to read or write her own name," Heather said. "She can write her own name and is beginning to read." The message: People with Down syndrome deserve respect. "A lot of people look down on people with disabilities," she said. "Even if I don’t win in nationals, I want people to hear that there is another way than underestimating what people with Down syndrome can do." Heather wrote and memorized the 10-minute persuasive speech, fine-tuning it at each competition. At the first speech tournament in the fall, the oratory was not as polished as it is now, she said. "I’m talking about a subject I’m very passionate about, but the first time I gave the speech I was so nervous," she said. "I wasn’t walking around or using hand gestures. It sounded memorized. "Now, it’s more conversational." This is the first year Heather has participated in speech and debate. She also competes in prose, poetry, duel drama and debate. "I’m the first person from Butte Falls ever to go to nationals, and I’m the only freshman," she said. "It was a shock when I qualified." She aspires to become a lawyer. She said the practice of looking at both sides of an argument through speech and debate will help her in that pursuit. The school doesn’t have the resources to pay for Heather’s travel expenses to the tournament, so students plan to ratchet up fundraising before the big event. Speech and debate teacher Marcia Stewart-Warren said the program presently has only 68 cents in its bank account. The journey to Texas and room and board will cost more than $2,000 for Heather and Stewart-Warren, who is her coach. In the south Oregon district, Butte Falls ranks sixth out of 19 schools in the number of points, or degrees, it has earned from the National Forensic League. Ashland is No. 1. Eagle Point stands at 11th place. Yet Butte Falls’ program began only six years ago when Stewart-Warren, an English teacher, launched a speech class after repeated requests from students. She began offering a debate class last year. About 25 pupils, or nearly 30 percent of the school’s student body, participate in speech and debate. "Speech and debate is a passion to me because I see life-changing events in students’ lives as a result," Stewart-Warren said. For example, Butte Falls senior Melody Carlisle earned an $18,000 speech scholarship last year as well as a $40,000 academic scholarship for Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4459 or e-mail Butte Falls sends first contestant ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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