On Saturday, March 14th, the Southeast Valley Individual Event speech team traveled to Denison High School to compete at the State Individual Event Speech Contest. At the state contest, students perform in front of 3 judges and receive a I (excellent), II (good), or III (fair) rating from each judge. The ratings are then compiled into one final average rating. The day ended with Southeast Valley students earning thirteen I ratings (III), four mixed I ratings (I I 2), and two II ratings (2 2 2).

     Two students participated in the category of reviewing. Paizley Jondle earned a mixed I rating for her review of the movie The Cat in the Hat and Hallie Crampton earned a I for her review of the movie Zootopia 2. In the category of acting, Aurora Dencklau earned a I rating for her piece “The Bald and the Beautiful,” and also earned a I rating for Interpretation of Poetry in which she performed a compilation titled “We the Dreamers.” Blessing Cunigan and Taylor Willardson also performed in the category of Interpretation of Poetry and earned I ratings for their pieces “The Girl Who Had Nothing” and “Cinderella” respectively. In the category of Storytelling, Malia Urban earned a I rating with “The Monster of the Woods.” Paizley Jondle and Zephyr Lane also performed in Storytelling, earning II ratings for their pieces “Grumpy Monkey” and “Where’s My Cow?” respectively. Solo Musical Theatre had a successful day with Zephyr Lane earning a I with “Out There,” Blessing Cunigan earning a I with “The Lady’s Improving,”and Taylor Willardson earning a mixed I with “A Trip to the Library.” In the category of Interpretation of Prose, Weslyn Urban brought the laughs and earned a I rating with “The Stinky Cheese Man” and Lydia Bair followed up with the amusing story of “Mama Makes Up Her Mind” for which she earned a mixed I rating. Jonny Kelley performed in solo improvisation, drawing the characters of a cheerful award ceremony host and an amateur detective and the setting of entering the National Bubble Blowing Contest. Jonny received a I rating. Allie Kaufman performed in Radio News and earned a I rating. A new category was introduced this year called Videocasting. Three students tried this out, and all three earned I ratings. The students were Leo Loeffler with “Ducks,” Allie Kaufman with “The Joy of Journaling,” and Hallie Crampton with “Getting Ready for Speech Contest.”

     In addition to these wonderful performances, three students have been chosen to perform at the All-State festival in Cedar Falls on Monday, March 30th. This is the highest honor you can receive at the state contest. The students are Aurora Dencklau in acting, Jonny Kelley in Solo Improvisation, and Paizley Jondle in Reviewing.