By Keri Wagoner
The Aurora speech team had an exciting competition this past week at Doniphan Trumbull. The team placed second overall, scored 234 total points and took home 14 medals.
Due to the show choir performing on the same day, many members were unable to attend, leaving twelve students set to compete for Aurora. Despite the fewer number of entries, the team performed well. Medals were given to the top six finalists. Junior Julia Messere was crowned speaker of the week. Messere placed first in novice extemporaneous speaking, and freshman Wyatt Heiss placed fifth.
There were also a handful of novice performers that also had the opportunity to final in this competition. In novice serious prose, freshman Joey Ballas placed first. Ballas has seen great success in the event, placing in the top ten at the first competition in Adams Central as well as CNFL #1 at Grand Island Senior High.
“I’m in serious prose and OID. I chose to do serious because I enjoy putting lots of emotion into my acting. I was invited to do the OID and joined because I wanted to try a new event. My favorite part of speech is how nice everyone is. After every round, everyone congratulates one another and says how well they did. I look up to most varsity people, especially after watching their rounds,” said Ballas.
Sophomore JJ Thomas placed fourth in novice humorous. Additionally, freshman Charlee Wiesen placed first for novice persuasive.
“I chose to do persuasive because I enjoy writing and talking about serious topics. I also do a duet and I have a lot of fun with our humorous script. My goal was to be memorized by Saturday and I am! It felt really great placing first,” said Wiesen.
Many varsity performers medaled within the top six. Junior Scott Bennett placed second in entertainment. Sophomore Chloe Fawver saw success in both her events, placing second in informative and program oral interpretation. Senior Kennedy Kleinschmidt also finaled in the event, placing third in program oral interpretation. All three varsity persuasive speakers medaled; sophomore Keri Wagoner in second, Kennedy Kleinschmidt in third, and junior Jayke Krueger in fourth. Kruger also received second place in extemporaneous speaking and senior Cara Thomas placed fifth.
Other schools that ranked in the team sweepstakes include: Hastings St. Cecilia, (1st); Centura (3rd); Brady (4th), and Nebraska Christian Schools (5th). The fourth meet of the season will take place at GISH for CNFL #2. Rounds will begin at 8 a.m. with 21 entries performing at the competition.