The 2018-2019 Speech Team is sponsored by Ms. Bollinger and Mr. Stancil and currently has 34 members that compete at both the state and national level. They meet every Friday in room 241 to prepare for the tournaments they attend on Saturdays. As of now (12/5) they have attended three of these tournaments.

Mr. Stancil says “I believe that as a result of their experiences on the team, students improve their ability to effectively digest, organize, and convey complex information, they gain confidence when interacting with others, and hopefully they have fun making new friends”.

The Speech team normally has meetings every week, except for this week because of finals. Typically, the students run the meetings, but sometimes the sponsors will also run the meetings (Mr. Stancil, Ms. Bolinger).

Annabelle Gunning a member of the speech team said, “The Speech team is very much a team activity. Speech and Debate is great  [at] helping members get comfortable [with] public speaking”.

Their first tournament was at Henry Clay. They brought 23 competitors of which six were finalists and finished 8th overall. Here are some of the results; Sarah Grace Sajadi – 6th place, Broadcasting; Devin Fleming and Sarah Grace Sajadi – 4th place, Improv Duo; Julie Sharpe – 5th place, Extemp; Jasmine Flora – 6th place, Oratory; Nick Skidmore – 9th place, Congress

Their second tournament was at LaRue County High School. They had three finalists and finished 9th overall. Nick Skidmore finished 4th in Extemp; Claire Qian finished 5th in Congress; Sarah Grace finished 7th in Broadcasting.

The most recent tournament they attended was at Danville High school. They finished in 10th and had five finalists. In Extemp, Nick Skidmore finished 2nd, Julie Sharpe finished 5th, and Sarah Grace finished 6th.  Johnathan Hurley got 3rd in Varsity Congress, and Cooper Samuelson got 5th in Learners’ Congress.