On Monday, March 30, the Southeast Valley Individual Speech Team ended its season with a trip to Cedar Falls and performances by Aurora Dencklau, Jonny Kelley, and Paizley Jondle at the IHSSA Individual All-State Speech Festival.

     Aurora Dencklau is a junior at SVHS and was nominated in the category of acting for her performance of “The Bald and the Beautiful” by J.J. Jonas. This is Aurora’s third year in individual speech and her second year being nominated for All-State. Last year, Aurora performed in the category of reviewing. Jonny Kelley, also a junior, participated in individual speech for the first time this year. He was chosen to perform in the category of solo improvisation. In this category, students draw random characters and a setting and have three minutes to create a skit. At the All-State festival, Jonny drew the characters of a worm farmer and an artist and the situation of fixing a television. Junior Paizley Jondle was nominated to perform in the category of reviewing in which she reviewed the 2003 family movie “The Cat in the Hat.” This is Paizley’s second year in individual speech. She has also performed in the category of storytelling.

     There are many steps involved in being nominated for All-State. First, these three students earned a division I (excellent) rating at the district level contest at Kuemper Catholic in late February. Next, they earned division I ratings at the state level competition at Denison High School. Finally, they received two or more outstanding nominations from the state judges to be classified as an Outstanding Performer. This classification sets these three students apart as some of the top performers in the State of Iowa.

     The festival included attending opening ceremonies and a day filled with performances in all categories of individual event speech. Critics are present to offer feedback to performers, and medals are awarded to participants. Schools are also recognized with an All-State banner to be hung in the high school commons.