Raabe, Dick head to Friday’s MSHSL State Class A Speech Tourney competition
A pair of Mountain Lake Christian (MLC) Speech Team members – junior Josh Raabe and sophomore Danica Dick – will be “addressing” state competition this Friday, April 17, as they participate in the 2015 Minnesota State High School League’s 2015 Class A Speech Tournament at Lakeville North Public High School. (The Class AA Meet is held in the same location on Saturday, April 18.) Class A is composed of schools with 0-610 students and Class AA is composed of schools with enrollment of 611 or more students.
Raabe and Dick advance to the state contest courtesy of the third-place finishes in their respective categories at the Section 2A Speech Tourney held Friday, April 10, at St. Peter Public High School (the top three placings in each of the 13 speech categories move on to compete at state).
The 13 categories offered in speech competition are Creative Expression, Discussion, Duo Interpretation, Extemporaneous Reading, Extemporaneous Speaking, Great Speeches, Humorous Interpretation, Informative Speaking, Original Oratory, Serious Interpretation of Drama, Serious Interpretation of Poetry, Serious Interpretation of Prose and Storytelling.
For Raabe, that category is Humorous Interpretation, and for Dick, Storytelling. In Humorous, the speaker presents a humorous selection from a play, prose or poem. This speech season, Raabe competed with a cutting from a Dave Barry piece, “The Hot Seat,” in which Barry explains how it came to pass that he set his toilet on fire. As far as for Storytelling, Dick had to work on, memorize and prepare to present a total of 15 folk tales. At each speech meet, the speaker draws three titles from that selection of 15 – and shares their interpretation of one of those tales.
It will be a return performance to state speech for Dick, who participated last year as freshmen, also competing in Storytelling. In 2014, she was third at sub-section, third at Section 2A – and 10th in State Class A.
Additional MLC orators who advanced to compete at the section contest were:
* Senior Elijah Stoesz, broke finals and finished in 6th-place in Informative Speaking. In Informative, the speaker presents an original, unbiased speech on the topic of their choice with the purpose to inform. They are also permitted to use posters or other visual aids to enhance their presentation.
* Caitlyn Smith, another senior, who also broke finals and earned a 6th-place spot in Great Speeches. For competition in Great Speeches, the speaker presents on a historically great speech – including an analysis and sections of the original speech.
* Freshman Katelyn Fast competed in the category of Serious Interpretation of Prose. When competing in Serious Prose, the speaker presents a serious selection from a novel or short story.
The MLC coach is Kim Friesen
* Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS) had one orator, junior Ashley Watkins, moving on to compete in the section meet. Watkins participated in the category of Creative Expression. For an orator competing in Creative Expression, the speaker presents an original, creative piece. They are judged on writing as well as delivery.
Alisa Nickel is the MLHS speech coach.
The complete Section 2A rundown of the top three in each category advancing to the state meet is as follows:
Creative Expression –
1 – Sofia Stumpf, Jackson County Central Public High School, Destined to be Discarded.
2 – Heather Newman, Blue Earth Area Public High School, History 101.
3 – Adam Schwartz, Mankato Loyola High School, The Catholic School Atheist.
Discussion –
1 – Sonya Benzmiller, Mankato Loyola High School.
2 – Allie Baskfield, St. Peter Public High School.
3 – Connor Prafke, St. Peter Public High School.
Duo Interpretation –
1 – Katiana Fischer and Lexi Fischer, Fairmont Public High School, Science: No Boys Allowed, by Jane Nicolaas.
2 – Isabel Zwaschka and Elaine Adams, Mankato Loyola High School, Monsters Will Be Monsters, by Chris and Ryan Wilkins.
3 – Ben Hernes and Austin Becker, Fairmont Public High School, The Pom-Pom Boys, by Joseph Reed.
Extemporaneous Reading –
1 – Julia Okerman, Fairmont Public High School.
2 – Rachel Beran, St. Peter Public High School.
3 – Abbi Pleiss, Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School.
Extemporaneous Speaking –
1 – Shane Price, Mankato Loyola High School.
2 – Sean Willaert, Mankato Loyola High School.
3 – Mason Legg, St. Peter Public High School.
Great Speeches –
1 – Peter Nielsen, Fairmont Public High School, Statement Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by John Kerry.
2 – Machaela Spear, Waseca Public High School, The Address at Independence Hall, by Abraham Lincoln.
3 – Mariah Lippert, Maple River Public High School, Malala’s Address to the United Nations, by Malala Yousafzaia.
Humorous Interpretation –
1 – Will Cipos, Mankato Loyola High School, A Fish Story, by Tim Kochenderfer.
2 – Sophia Lee, St. Peter Public High School, Disney Moms Group Therapy, by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy.
3 – Josh Raabe, Mountain Lake Christian High School, The Hot Seat, by Dave Barry.
Informative Speaking –
1 – Anagha Komaragiri, Fairmont Public High School, Grossed Out.
2 – Katherine Sandquist, St. Peter Public High School, Life in Plastic.
3 – Shantel Quist, Fairmont Public High School, Watch Boys, There’s a New Superhero in Town.
Original Oratory –
1 – Lauren Carlson, Fairmont Public High School, Are You Happy?
2 – Maria Muske, Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School, Perseverance.
3 – Sara Best, Waterville/Elysian/Morristown Public High School, It’s NOT Draw a Picture of a Bird Day.
Serious Interpretation of Drama –
1 – Kristiane Montgomery, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Public High School (BLHS)/Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian-Danube Public High School (BOLD), Necessary Targets, by Eve Ensler.
2 – Jenna Sassenrath, Jackson County Central Public High School, The End of the Rainbow, by Peter Quilter.
3 – Anna Hernes, Fairmont Public High School, My Name is Rachel Corrie, by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner.
Serious Interpretation of Poetry –
1 – Sophia Weisensel, Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School, Before I Read this Poem, The Sunshine Kid, by George David Miller, Harry Baker.
2 – Emilee Moeller – Fairmont Public High School, Blue Blanket, Rape Joke, by Andrea Gibson, Belisso Escobeodo and Rhiannon McGavin.
3 – Emma Kuehler, Fairmont Public High School, Explaining My Depression to my Mother: a Conversation, The Nutritionist, by Sabrina Benaim, Andrea Gibson.
Serious Interpretation of Prose –
1 – Isaiah Lippert, Maple River Public High School, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque.
2 – Sophia Lamor, St. Peter Public High School, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, by Kay Redfield Jamison.
3 – Mackenzie Marioncini, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Public High School (BLHS)/Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian-Danube Public High School (BOLD), The Queen of Oz, by Kristy Thomas.
Storytelling –
1 – Mikayla Soelter, Fairmont Public High School.
2 – Nick Reed, Jackson County Central Public High School.
3 – Danica Dick, Mountain Lake Christian.