Speech shows success early in the season and shows no sign of stopping

February 27, 2024

The Owatonna Speech Team at Red Wing High School Speech Invitational before awards.

This year the OHS Speech team has a total of 62 members—a new record for the team. They are only four meets in and the team has already been off to an extremely successful start, placing second overall in one of their most recent meets.

The team’s captains are seniors: Elijah Leon, Idalia Anderson, Ava Kleeberger, and Jace Forcelle, along with sophomore Ayoub Farah. The head coach is Ms. Marica Anderson with assistant coaches Mr. Mark Anderson, Ms. Melissa Gergen, and Ms. Betsy Cole.

Ms. Marcia Anderson said, “We’ve had several team members advance to finals and place at the meets we’ve been to so far. At the John Marshall meet the team as a whole earned second place. Even though speech is somewhat an individual activity, our team really comes together and supports each other.”

Kleeberger is a part of the category Dramatic Duos with her partner senior Emma Green, and has been a part of speech since seventh grade.

Kleeberger said, “I compete in Dramatic Duo with Emma Green and the season has been going great so far. We have consistently been placing first and second at our meets. Being in Duo means being a lot more involved in the activity than a regular category since it requires communication and cooperation. This is our third year doing this category together. For the rest of the season, Emma and I are hoping to continue to improve and head to state once again this year.”

Leon competes in a category called Discussion, which is a role play, and out of the four meets so far he has consistently ranked in the top two— while having to miss the most recent meet.

Leon said, “I have two things in mind this year: Champion in Discussion [winning at State] and getting 14 people to State. We are in a really good place, but as a captain, I really just want to get as many people to State as possible and that would mean the world to have everyone do great at Big Nine and earn a Championship title, like we did couple years ago, to then get everyone hyped to State and win some awards.”

Their next competition is a home meet on Saturday, March 9 at Owatonna High School.

About the Contributors

Ella Highfield, Editor

Ella Highfield is a senior at OHS, and it is her second year on Magnet staff. Outside of school she dances for Just For Kix dance studio. She is also involved in YoungLife, DECA, Link Crew, SHOC and Thriving Minds. Highfield joined Magnet because she took journalism as a sophomore and really enjoyed being apart of Magnet last year. Her future plans include going to a college for cosmetology school, and afterward becoming a hairstylist.

Jace Forcelle, Editor

Jace Forcelle is a senior at Owatonna High School. Furthermore, this is his second year in Magnet. Independent of Magnet, Forcelle is a student school board representative for the Owatonna School Board and a captain of the Owatonna Speech Team. Besides academics, Forcelle is invested in the field of philosophy, history and theology. He is interested in pursuing history at undergraduate level through a four year university.