MLC Speech Team members Josh Raabe, Danica Dick compete in, earn awards at Class A Tourney
The state of the Minnesota State Class A Speech Tournament saw a pair of Mountain Lake Christian (MLC) Speech Team members – junior Josh Raabe and sophomore Danica Dick – participating, and earning awards in the contest. Danica Dick, competing in Storytelling, tied for 12th place with 11 points and Josh Raabe, competing in Humorous Interpretation, tied for 11th place with a score of 10 points. (In 2014, as a freshman, Danica also competed at state in Storytelling, finishing 10th in Class A, after ending third in both sub-section and section meets.)
The Minnesota State High School League’s (MSHSL) Class A and AA Speech Tourney was held at Lakeville North Public High School, A orators competing on Friday, April 17, and AA speaker 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.
Danica and Josh advanced to the state contest courtesy of third-place finishes in their respective categories at the Section 2A Speech Tourney on Friday, April 10, at St. Peter Public High School (the top three placings in each of the 13 speech categories moved on to compete at state). Earlier, Danica had finished in a three-way tie for first-place in Storytelling at the Section 2A South Sub-Section, while Josh was second in Humorous at the same meet.
There are 13 categories offered in speech competition: 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 Danica’s category of participation – Storytelling – participants 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.
In Josh’s category of Humorous Interpretation, 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.
The MLC Speech Team is coached by Kim Friesen.
