She is the most decorated forensics speaker in the state of Minnesota. She practices ten hours a week. She qualified for Nationals in all six of her events this April, helping the Gustavus Forensics Team achieve 18th place in the country.

But First-year Chloe Marie Radcliffe harbors a dark secret: “I can’t read analog clocks,” she said. “Oh, and I can’t whistle either, and I have an irrational fear that the mechanical arm outside of a parking lot will crush my car someday.”

Yet this 18-year-old does not let such anxieties stand in her way. “I came to Gustavus for [its] speech program, and I wanted to compete with the best in the country,” she said. In the last year, she has proven herself to be a strong competitor.

“Chloe is probably the most diligent and analytical competitor I’ve worked with.  She is very detail-oriented. She is one of the most talented students I’ve ever worked with, and certainly one of the hardest working,” said Professor of Communication Studies and Forensics Team Coach Kris Kracht.

Entered in the maximum number of categories at the collegiate level, Chloe has earned unprecedented accolades for her persuasive oratories, her dramatic interpretations and her impromptu speaking.

Forensics speaking is a competitive extracurricular activity at Gustavus consisting of eleven categories. Chloe took the Minnesota state title in three events: Drama (a ten-minute dramatic monologue), After Dinner Speaking (a ten-minute humorous persuasive speech) and Program Oral Interpretation (a compilation of prose, poems and dramatic text chosen and arranged at the speaker’s choosing).

“Chloe takes in everything around her and recognizes exactly what she has to do in order to succeed and become a top performer. She placed first in individual sweepstakes at the Minnesota state tournament,” said Senior Communication Studies Major and Forensics Team Member Tasha Carlson.

Chloe also earned second place for her Prose reading and competed in Impromptu Speaking (the speaker is given a topic and must prepare a short speech about it in one to one-and-a-half minutes), as well as Dramatic Duo with fellow First-year Chloe Goldade. Her outstanding achievements won her the Individual Sweepstakes title, making her the highest-ranking competitor in Minnesota.

Chloe is not only the first Gustavus first-year in our school’s history to break at the National level, she is also the first Gustavus student to break in the category of Program Oral Interpretation (POI). Her program’s topic? “Staring at people who look different. I’ve had some personal experience with that,” Chloe says, “so it had particular significance for me.” The speech was one of three Gustavus performances to reach the quarterfinals at Nationals.

“Since Chloe’s been here, she’s made quite the impact on the team. Her talent has been a very important component of our success, and I’m excited to see where she can take that talent,” said Senior History and Communication Studies Major and Forensics Team Member Kavan Rogness.

But Chloe admits that such notoriety comes with its price. The speech season stretches from late September to early April, with one weekend off per month. Practicing each of her events proved rather difficult, as well.

“Balancing six events was probably the biggest challenge,” Chloe said. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in one and forget about the other five. I don’t think I fully understood how crazy it would be to take on as many events as I did, but I am glad I challenged myself to do it.”

Chloe is no stranger to challenging herself. Raised in Prior Lake, MN, she was captain of the speech team, a National Honor Society member, first chair clarinet in her high school band and participant in both her high school and community theater programs. She recalls one particularly memorable performance involving an accidental wardrobe malfunction in Annie Get Your Gun. “The whole audience got to see my bra. That was pretty great,” she said.

Yet despite all of these passions, forensics remains her true love. “I watched a POI at Nationals that was so powerful, when the speaker sat down, people kept clapping for over a minute-and-a-half,” Chloe said. “It’s an amazing support network. And a really good speech can make you laugh, cry and persuade you.  That is why I am in speech.”

With the season over now, Chloe hopes to focus on school and her friends. She enjoys volunteering at the St. Peter Soup Kitchen and is currently performing in a student-written, ten-minute play at Gustavus. She will also be traveling with her mother to Greece in 2012 as part of their mother-daughter international vacationing tradition.

Perhaps by then this accomplished orator will have mastered the analog clock.