Liam Chewning, junior, got second place in finals out of the 18 competitiors in the 32nd Annual English-Speaking Union Shakespeare competition for the Kansas City Branch February 28, 2016.

The first place winner was Grace Goheen, senior, of Blue Valley High School.

Olathe South students won First Place three years in a row in 2010, 2011, and 2012. After that, there weren’t any finalists from South until Chewning in 2016.

The competition was held at the Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, in Truman Forum Auditorium.

More than 190 students participated in the preliminary part of the competition in Kansas City area schools.

With the assistance of Cathy Smith, his sponsoring teacher, Chewning chose to perform a monlologue of Lewis from King John and sonnet 22.

A few of Chewning’s friends even came out to support him.

The ESU judging process was a much different experience for Chewning than the school juding process. “For one, it was lot more scary,” he said

The judges, Robert Gibby Brand, David Fritts, and Melinda McCrary, are all members of Actor’s Equity Association and have each appeared in many Shakespeare productions.

He received a lot of valuable feedback from the judges, including one judge who told him to “let the words flow.”

Chewning jokingly said that the most valuable part of the whole experience was “the $100 check.” He was also awarded an engraved Second Place Winner medallion.

“It was really the experience itself,” he said.

Although he found the competition to be exciting, he was relieved when it was all over. “I would definitely do it again,” Chewning said, referring to next year’s competiton.

The school’s contest coordinator is Vicki Kohl.