After months of long Monday night practices, endless poetry reciting, and many different tweaks to each competitors interpretations, the final four competed at state on March 28th at Kearney Horizon middle school
Speech is a competitive activity that students choose to be a part of. They’re often performing the interpretations they have prepared themselves by acting out or reciting poetry. This is also known as an effective way to practice public speaking.
One senior and three sophomores made it to state speech competition. Senior Ellie Cain competed in Oral Interpretation; sophomore Evan Carlson performed a Dramatic Interpretation; sophomore Camden Kieckhafer performed a Humorous Interpretation, and sophomore Gianna Panebianco recited poetry.
The students work with speech coach and Spanish teacher Jamie Mosby to find compelling material for the contest.
“There’s some websites where you can see all these scripts and just read through them, see which ones you find interesting,” Kieckhafer said.
One of the most important aspects of speech is the practice, which sets the path for a successful piece. While state was slowly approaching, practice became a part of their weekly schedule.
“Monday night we have practice and we’ll have practice again [Thursday] night,” Mosby said. “It’s mostly just refining their performances and making sure that they’re at their best for Saturday”
Mosby said the team has made it to state for the last ten years, so they’re not rookies when it comes to this. Mosby has been working with the competing students after school to help them get prepared and provide feedback on how to improve. The competitors are very excited about going to state.
Although finals did not end the way they hoped, the competitors were overall excited to perform the pieces that they worked hard on. The rest of the competitors placed in the top half and only Cain broke finals with a fifth place finish.
“They all did really well at state, and they worked really hard in the week in between districts and state.” Mosby said.