On Feb. 10, the Cumberland High School Forensics Team won first place in competition against four other schools in the James River District at Prince Edward County High School.

After two rounds of competition, CHS students earned five first-place finishes including freshman Munirah Fulani, impromptu speaking, sophomore Holly Tillett, humorous interpretation, and juniors Kaylah Paras, poetry interpretation, Madaline Johnston, prose interpretation, and Katey Hougland, storytelling. Other notable finishes include second place finishes for Demory Williamson, dramatic interpretation, the humorous duo of John Jefferies and Shayna Swanson, and third place finishes for Amatul-Malik Fulani, Hallye Workman, Cheyenne Johnson, Justin Crawford and Alexis Ellis.

Their finishes earned CHS first place in the James River District for the first time in recent memory. Second place overall was awarded to Randolph Henry, and Prince Edward earned third.

Under the leadership of Coach Charles Haigh and team captain junior Demory Williamson, the CHS Forensics Team is now preparing for their conference competition on Saturday against Central High School Lunenburg, West Point High School and Middlesex High School to be held at the Cumberland County High School / Middle School complex. Now a part of Conference 42, CHS is defending Conference 44 champion for the past two years and last year earned the 1A East Regional championship; Coach Haigh was also awarded Region 1A East Coach of the Year.