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Declaimers Announced for 2025 Irving-Marshall Week

By Hadley Frey ’26 and Stevie Keck ’26

The Declamation speakers for Irving-Marshall Week 2025 have officially been chosen. Declamation is a speaking contest and the final event of the weeklong competition between two societies, Irving and Marshall. This year’s Declamation will take place the evening of Thursday, March 6, 2025, followed by a dance where the winners of the contest and the overall week will be announced.

Video: The Declaimer’s Journey

Entering this year, Marshall is coming off a sweeping victory in 2024, while Irving is gearing up for their comeback. In previous years, Irving had a two-year winning streak after breaking Marshall’s six-year streak. Both teams are tied for the longest streak of six years and looking to build on their past success.

Marshall’s declaimers consist of returners as well as some new faces. Keri-Ann Denis ’25 (Arvene, NY) will be back for her third and final year of Declamation. Grace Chi ’25 (Palo Alto, CA) is also returning for her second year of Declamation. Last year Chi came out victorious, securing first place. Another returner, Oscar Su ’25 (Hagerstown, MD) will be participating in his second Declamation. Marshall will be joined by two new faces: Renee Jin ’26 (McLean, VA) and Max Friedman ’25 (Vienna, VA). This year’s declaimer-in-training is Trevi Ricks ’28 (Arlington, VA).

Irving’s declaimers also consist of returning declaimers as well as some new faces. William Tutt ’25 (Carolina, PR) will be participating in his third and final Declamation. Rhiannon Myhre ’25 (Annapolis, MD) will be a declaimer this year after serving as last year’s declaimer-in-training. Irving has many new faces, including Lily Hubbard ’26 (Camas, WA), Sophie Koroma ’26 (Hyattsville, MD), and Crystal Chiu ’25 (Hong Kong). Irving’s declaimer-in-training is Caroline Hobbs ’26 (Pottsville, PA).

Each declaimer selects and delivers their piece in front of the entire student body. These works are taken from an abundance of genres and authors. In attendance are three outside judges. These elements make Declamation arguably the best part of Irving-Marshall Week. While the judges make their decisions and rank the pieces collectively, students from both societies join together to sing and dance, celebrating the week in its entirety. At the end of the dance, Head of School Quentin McDowell P ’25, ’27 delivers the final score.

Irving-Marshall is a tradition only found at Mercersburg. Once enrolled, every student is drafted into a society. If they have family members who have attended the school, they can select if they want to join their society or be drafted with the student body. During this week, the competitive spirit is off the charts. Both teams dress from head to toe in their societies’ colors and swag. Students attend multiple sporting events throughout the week, along with gaming activities. As these competitions are won, each team receives a certain number of points, and at the end of the week, they are tallied in with Declamation to determine the winner.

This year’s presidents are Taimur Rehman ’25 (Sugar Land, TX), representing the Marshall Society, and Ryan Kothari ’25 (Hagerstown, MD), representing the Irving Society. The faculty adviser for Marshall is Bethany Galey ’02 and for Irving is De-Enda Rotz P ’25, with Matt Maurer P ’18, ’20, ’22, ’23, ’28 for Declamation.

This tradition has been around for as long as Mercersburg Academy has existed. Read more about Mercersburg’s many traditions.