The Oak Lawn Community High School Speech Team took 3rd Place at the 2025-26 South Suburban Conference Speech Tournament, hosted at OLCHS this past December. With 14 competitors breaking into final rounds, the team held their own in the 14-school conference, with 6 students placing in the Top 3 in their events, earning them the coveted “All Conference” designation.
Liam Kalousek took 3rd Place in Oratorical Declamation and Ethan Zumhagen took 3rd in Original Comedy. Sophie Mathews was the Conference Runner Up in Dramatic Interpretation, and Michael Concannon was the Runner Up and Top Novice in Prose Reading. Bringing home gold in not one but two different events were junior Natalia Gorlicka and senior Olivia Kobylarczyk. Natalia was the Conference Champion in both Extemporaneous Speaking and Original Oratory, and Olivia was the Conference Champion in Humorous Interpretation and Original Comedy.
Speech coach Mike Olsson said, “Mr. Capriola and I were thrilled to see our students find so much success at Conference! As always, their hard work paid off, allowing the team to end the first half of the season on a high note. We can’t wait to see what the team can do as we get to the second half and set our sights on the IHSA State Series!"