CFHS speech team balances for State

Donald Halbmeier/Staff Writer

Waking up early on a Saturday morning may seem foreign to many high school students, but not to the CFHS speech team.

On Saturday, Feb. 27, the team headed to Iowa Falls for the District Individual Events Contest. The team did excellent coming out with 21 Division I ratings and 12 who earned Division II.

Since there is the spring theater production and a small turnaround from group speech, there has been minimal time to prepare for the individual speech contests.

“Every year it would be nice to have more time, but then again there’s something to be said for the adrenaline of the quick turnaround. If we started too early, I worry folks would get bored — not to mention we would creep into large group practice time,” speech team coach Rebecca Kauten said.

Some students had a more difficult time than others balancing activities such as the play.

“It was not extremely difficult balancing the two. I went to speech rehearsal and had someone call me or let me know when my scene for the play was coming up, so I owe a lot of people for helping me balance that. It did take away my time to rehearse with my coaches though,” junior Heather Kelly said.

Throughout the same situations every year, the team has stayed consistent.

“We are fairly close to the mark for individual events participation. This year we have a few more folks from Peet and Holmes participating, which is great to see. The 10-12 grade participation levels have remained pretty constant over the last five years, which is a very good thing. I’d rather see us sustain than go in either direction at this point. It’s a pretty manageable team at the size that it is,” Kauten said.

They well be performing a recital for the public at Cedar Falls High School in the auditorium at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 8, and will be performing at the State Competition at Starmont High School on Saturday, March 13.

The following are the performers that well be attending the State competition on the 13th: Carter Allen/Improv, Gage Stoneman/After Dinner Speaking, Maggie Devine/Expository Address, Sam Takes/Solo Musical Theatre, Jillian Ross/Lit. Program, Leah Franke/Storytelling, Elena Bruess/Poetry, Katie McDaniel/ Radio, Rhydian Talbot/Acting, Maya Amjadi/ Acting, Alex Staudt/Prose, Sam Takes/ Prose, Scott Sesterhenn/Improv, Heather Kelly/Lit. Program, Maggie Devine/Radio, Carter Allen/Solo Musical Theatre, Heather Kelly/Acting, Justin Marshall/Prose, Ashley Sorensen/Poetry, Justin Marshall/Improv and Darby Sheehan/Prose.

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