The National Federation of State High School Associations publishes its magazine High School Today to highlight great achievements of high school sport and activity participation around the country, while also offering professional development for students, teachers, coaches, administrators, parents, officials and all others associated with the high school experience.

The McDermott's, Prospect High School's dynastic speech family, was recently featured in the magazine. The story by Cody Porter is below:

The Illinois speech community is no stranger to the name McDermott. Since 2012, Scott McDermott and his children, Jimmy and Molly, of Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, have been a staple in state and national competitions. In February, however, the McDermott family experienced its ultimate accomplishment when Scott, who is an associate principal and volunteer assistant coach, helped coach his son and daughter to individual titles in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state speech championship.

The victories for the McDermotts came as Prospect dethroned defending champion Wheaton Warrenville South High School, a perennial state finalist, for the school’s first IHSA Speech Individual Events state title.

“This was a completely surreal experience,” Scott said. “I got to experience success at many different levels on that day. You hope for the greatest things for your kids and you know sometimes it doesn’t always result in a complete championship; it just results in great experiences.” 

Click here to finish story

or click here to see the story within the April, 2016 issue