The OHS Speech Team competed in section finals on April 15, 2021. Owatonna had four students that advanced to the state speech competition in four different categories; junior Julia Christenson (Humor), junior Jackson Hemann (Drama), senior Megan Copeland (Extemp Reading) and junior Fardouza Farah (Discussion). The Speech Team advisers are Ms. Marcia Anderson and Ms.Betsy Cole, both are teachers at OHS. At state, each contestant could speak up to four times. The way they perform in the three preliminary rounds will determine if they advance to the finals or not. Speech consists of many different categories to compete in. 

Hemann competed in the Drama category and will be advancing to the state competition in that category. Hemann is going to state for the second year. Two years ago he competed at state in the duo category with former OHS student, Carolyn Stauffer. He started speech in 7th grade and has fallen in love with the program ever since. From the beginning of the season to now, he has made many changes in multiple ways. Hemann says, “I have changed my script by making cuts, revising it, and changing my intro. I have also changed all of my movements. These changes have helped me advance to state.” By revising his work he was able to make the extra push to make it to state. This year Hemann is competing in the drama category. Within the drama category, the contestant picks a script from a play and performs it. This is typically a sad piece, the script is about ten minutes long and he has to memorize it. His goal for next year is to have a good season and a fun time. 

For Christenson, her top performing category is Humor. Christenson has been on the speech team for four years now, two of which she has been a captain. She says, “Speech is such a fun time and it helps you with public speaking as well as other skills you can apply to life.” Being able to have fun while acquiring new skills to better you in the future, is a key aspect of the speech team. In a humorous interpretation category, each performer gets a ten minute performance that they have to memorize throughout the season, this can be a cut from a book, a script from a play or a monologue. The contestant is then judged on how well he or she performs and acts out their speech. For next season she hopes to make it to state again and improve her performance even more. Over the course of the season, Christenson says, “I have improved a lot over this season, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends and coaches.”  

One category in speech is a reading category called, Extemporaneous Reading. Competitors must randomly draw a section from a story and read it with feelings, characteristics and emotion. The participants are given a book at the beginning of the season, they can then pre-read and get to know the book. Within the book they can pick apart between 30 and 40 passages. They then draw the three passages they are most comfortable with. Before the performance, the participants get 30 minutes to write an introduction and practice their speech. Copeland says, “Each performer is then judged on their character voice and vocal inflection.” Copeland has been in speech at OHS for four years. She has made many accomplishments throughout the season. Copeland says, “At the beginning of speech I felt like I had a lot I had to work on, this season I have placed more than I ever have before.” As Copeland placed more this season, she had high hopes for advancing to state. She says, “Once I got to the finals at Big 9, I knew I had a chance.” Making state this year was in close reach for Copeland, as she made tremendous strides from the beginning of the season, to now. There are a few things that made her want to join the speech team. She saw joining the speech team as a “great way to make new friends and grow in public speaking abilities.”