Heart Behind the Humor

Downers Grove South’s Clinnin wins state speech award as he is inspired by his late father

By Jeff Vorva

Somehow, Nathan Clinnin found some humor in dealing with living without a father.

The Downers Grove South sophomore lost his father, Kevin, on Christmas in 2022.

Nathan used his experience to come up with an eight-minute story in which he played all of the characters, and in February, he won the Original Comedy category in the Illinois High School Association Speech State Final at the Peoria Civic Center.

“My theme was about not having a dad,” Nathan said. “People say, ‘Ooh, you made that funny?’ It’s a subject that means a lot to me, and what it means to not have that influence in your life and how it affects a person. I wanted to write a script that would connect with other people.”

Clinnin said he hoped that people could see themselves in the characters that he wrote. And while there were funny moments, to be sure, he balanced it out and tried to tug a few heartstrings as well.

“Being able to take something that means a lot to you and use your words to connect to an audience and cause them to feel emotions is great.”

– Nathan Clinnin

“I wanted to have a great balance of comedy and heartwarming things and drama, and I received critiques that said I did that very well,” he said. “I had a lot of heartwarming moments that people connected with.”

It was a big event for South and the Clinnin family. The Mustangs, coached by Justin Matkovich, tied for second place in the team standings with Neuqua Valley with 26 points each – three points behind Hinsdale Central’s 29.

Charlotte and Nathan Clinnin of Downers Grove South won state speech medals.
Photo courtesy of the Clinnin family

Nathan teamed with Sofie Cooper-Carrero to take fourth in humorous duet acting, and his sister, Charlotte, placed fifth in Poetry Reading.

Natalie Gay placed third in Humorous Interpretation,

Jillian Myers was fourth in Extemporaneous Speaking, Zoya Siddiqui was fourth in Impromptu Speaking and Informative Speaking, Carly Bleau was fifth in the Oratorical Declamation.

Nathan was not expecting to be taking home a gold medal this year.

“Being an underclassman, it was a learning experience for me to do it,” he said. “My goal was just to gain a lot of knowledge at state. I wanted to see everyone else’s take on the event and what they were bringing to the table. It ended up being a lot better than I expected. It was an amazing experience.”

But his name was called out as a champion, and it caught him off guard.

“I didn’t believe it,” he said. “But it was second nature with the immediate focus of ‘what do I have to do now?’’’

As a champion, that meant performing the routine in front of the crowd rather than just the judges.

Clinnin was involved in sports and theater growing up. Once he got into high school, things changed.

“My freshman year, I thought I would play football, but my sister convinced me to do speech,” he said. “So, I quit football and joined the speech team, and it sprouted into this.”

Theater still plays a big part in his life, and when it’s time to do some serious thinking about college, that is the area he will be leaning toward.

So far, Clinnin had fun with his roles as South.

In December, he played William Shakespeare in the December production of Shakespeare in Love. While he said the role was challenging, he added that it’s been his favorite role so far.

In April, he played Wednesday Addams’ love interest in the Addams Family Musical.

Meanwhile, he has two more years of competing with the speech team in front of him, and he finds that to be rewarding.

“I love the connection aspect,” he said of being on the team. “Being able to take something that means a lot to you and use your words to connect to an audience and cause them to feel emotions is great.”