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South Graduate Soars to World Championship

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John Reynolds started a path in sixth grade at Coakley Middle School that led him through Harlingen High School South to Western Kentucky University and into Paris, where he became a world champion at the 2014 International Forensic Associations World Championship Tournament last month.

“I am very fortunate to be a part of this program in a university that supports forensics as much as Western Kentucky,” said Reynolds, a 2010 graduate from HHSS. “Not only was it a great experience competing at that level, but it allowed me the opportunity to travel abroad.”

Reynolds joined 10 of his teammates in winning individual awards at the competition. The WKU team also won sweepstakes in the competition for the 10th time in the programs history.

“My goal had been to be better than I was in high school,” said Reynolds, who won his world championship in dramatic interpretation. “I don’t think I ever saw myself as a national or world champion.”

Reynolds made the decision to join the WKU team after being scouted by the program’s director, Jace Lux, he said.

“I first saw John his junior year at a tournament at Harvard,” Lux said. “I thought he had the characteristics that would translate well to college forensics. I saw him again at the NIETOC tournament in Fullerton, California, and that’s when I approached him about considering our team.”

Reynolds, a junior at WKU, mentioned several HCISD teachers who helped him along the way, including Linda Lunsford of CMS and Leah Ince and Felipe Garcia of HHSS, he said.

“They always pushed me to be a better person, and they believed in me,” Reynolds said. “They were always supportive, and it was something I need at that stage in my life.”

For more information on the WKU Forensics team, please click here.

2 thoughts on “South Graduate Soars to World Championship

  1. You have just done that prove you can make it. Best wishes in all you do John. Keep up the good work.

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