On Saturday, February 28th, thirteen students from Southeast Valley High School participated in the District Individual Event Speech contest. Nine students performed at Kuemper Catholic in Carroll, and four students performed in Fairfield by special request due to the contest conflicting with State Robotics. At the end of the day, students had earned 19 division I ratings (outstanding) and 5 division II ratings (good). Division I ratings qualify students to compete at the state contest.

Seven seniors participated in this year’s contest. Leo Loeffler received a division I rating for his entry in a new category this year: videocasting. Taylor Willardson performed “Cinderella” by Roald Dahl in the Interpretation of Poetry category and “A Trip to the Library” in Solo Musical Theatre and earned I ratings for both. Blessing Cunigan also performed in these categories, earning a I in Poetry with “The Girl Who Had Nothing” and a I in Solo Musical Theatre with “The Lady’s Improving.” Malia Urban performed in the storytelling category with “The Monster of the Woods” and earned a I rating as well as in the acting category with “Queen of the World” for which she earned a division II rating. Lydia Bair tried out Interpretation of Prose and earned a I rating with “Mama Makes Up Her Mind” and followed up with a division II rating in the category of Solo Improvisation. Zephyr Lane earned division I ratings for both of their performances, “Out There” in Solo Musical Theatre and “Where’s My Cow?” in storytelling. Ellie Gernhart performed in the category of Interpretation of Prose with “The Stone by the Door” and received a division II rating.

The underclassmen had a strong performance as well. Juniors Hallie Crampton, Aurora Dencklau, Paizley Jondle, and Jonny Kelley will all be advancing to the state contest. Hallie Crampton received division I ratings in both her performances, Reviewing and Videocasting. Aurora Dencklau also earned double division I ratings in the categories of Poetry and Acting. Paizley Jondle performed in Reviewing and Storytelling and earned double division I ratings. Jonny Kelley received a division II rating for his Reviewing and earned a division I rating for Solo Improvisation. Sophomore Allie Kaufman ventured into the category of videocasting and also performed in Radio News for which she earned division I ratings. New to individual speech this year, freshman Weslyn Urban performed in Prose and earned a division I rating and Acting for which he received a division II rating.

Individual Event speech is coached by Tamara Hanson. The state contest will be Saturday, March 14th, in Denison, IA.