The 2018-2019 OHS Speech team has been successful so far in their competitions. Speech offers 13 different categories such as: poetry, great speeches, duo interpretation, humorous interpretation, and many more. Once on the team, each student picks one category to participate in, varying among the team.  The speech team started practice in January and began attending meets the first weekend in February. Most students have been preparing their speech since December, with the exception of a few students that have changed their speech category. Each student practices with a coach at least once a week. Coaches help by giving members critiques and helping them finalize their speech.

This year, an increasing amount of students showed interest in the team, with a total of 54 participants. The speech team has never had a team that size before. Team member, Parker Nelson said, “My favorite part about speech is the people, there isn’t a day I go where I don’t laugh.”

They have competed in a total of four meets so far this season. Speech coach, Mrs. Marcia Anderson said, “We’ve had a lot of students making finals and placing in the meets. Even newcomers are placing and doing really well.” Their next meet will be at the Owatonna Middle School on Saturday, March 9. The team has rounds at round one at 9:00 a.m., round two at 10:15 a.m., round three 11:30 a.m., and finals at 1:30 p.m. Come support the speech team as this will be their only home meet.