Homer High School’s Drama, Debate and Forensics team are participating this month in the state DDF tournament hosted by the Alaska School Activities Association, the University of Alaska and the Anchorage School District. The event will take place at East High School in Anchorage Feb. 22-24.
Earlier this month, on Feb. 9, they presented “Random Acts of DDF” at the Mariner Theater, which included a silent auction with donations from the community to help raise money for their trip.
On Wednesday, Feb. 14, students in the program were spread out across the upstairs high school library rehearsing different parts of the performance.
Junior Raiden Skorski-O’Donnell and senior Spencer Co talked to the Homer News about what they expect at the state tournament in Anchorage this weekend.
Both students noted the social aspect of the state meet. “There are teams from the all over the state of Alaska, from the very farthest north to the south and they all range in various sizes. There are no divisions by school size. The state meet is fun because we get to connect with the students from those smaller schools and communities,” Co said.
Participation in DDF has provided a way to connect youth from across the state from the Zoom conferences to those that are held in person, Co said.
Skorski-O’Donnell noted that the opportunity to make connections with students from the other DDF teams in the state is one of his favorite components of the program.
The students explain some of the logistics of the tournament.
“The first thing you have to know about DDF tournaments is that they are always chaotic. They’re always a lot of fun, but there is so much going on all at once,” Co said.
Event categories range from various debate and speaking/oration categories to acting and dramatic interpretation. Some are performed as solos or duets and some are with members of a larger group, such as Reader’s Theater.
“It’s a pretty independent ‘sport,’ unless you’re in readers theater, then there might be several people participating at once,” Skorski-O’Donnell said.
There are currently 14 students on the Homer DDF team and approximately 10 will be in Anchorage with their coach, Marjorie Dunn. This is the 20th year Homer School has offered a DDF program.
