Speech is one of the biggest teams in the high school, yet many students do not know a thing about it. With the season starting up, now’s the perfect time to learn.
With the most auditions ever in the program’s history, speech is one of the fastest-growing activities at PLHS. They have selected over 100 of the best candidates available in hopes of having one of the strongest teams this year.
The start of the season has all the members, new and returning, excited and ready to go.
“I am really excited,” said Bria Fowble, a junior in her first year of speech. “I was in theater before, and I love public speaking so I want to bring that love into something I can compete in.”
One benefit of Speech is that it allows for the growth of many necessary skills.
“The biggest thing that I have learned was the ability to talk in front of others with ease,” said Luke Hennessy, a senior in his third year of speech. “I also learned how to look at things in many different perspectives.”
Speech includes 13 different categories that students can be a part of including Creative Expression, Discussion, Drama, Duo, Extemporaneous Reading, Extemporaneous Speaking, Great Speeches, Humor, Info, Original Oratory, Poetry, Prose Interpretation, and Storytelling.
Each student’s category is handpicked by a coach based on the student’s abilities and wants. This allows everyone to succeed in their own niche.
“I feel as if each coach wants everyone to succeed,” Fowble said. “Each member is in a category that they can do their best in and utilize their strengths.”
The practices consist of one-on-ones and group practices, which allow for each individual to learn not only from coaches but also from fellow members.
Students are only required to have 30 minutes of practice each week allowing them to participate in other sports while also being involved in speech. This allows for participation all throughout the school, even during the middle of the season.
Speech meets are judged by parents from different schools than the ones participating in the meet. They aren’t allowed to judge students from the same school in order to keep the grading as impartial as possible and give everyone a fair shot.
“The meets have got to be one of my favorite parts about speech,” Hennessy said. “ I obviously love the competitive part of it, but it also allows for an opportunity to hangout with the fellow members in the down time.”
The first official meet of the season was on January 20 at Orono High School, where the Lakers took first place as a team and had 4 individual first place finishers, including Himeeka Sunbeeb (discussion), Aimee Weaver (poetry), Katie Weaver (prose), and Owen Hammett (creative expression).
The speech season can be expected to last anywhere from 2-4 months depending on the performance of the individual participants.
“Speech starts in January, but if you make it to sections, it goes until March, and if you make state, it’s until April,” Hennessy said.
Last year, the speech team had a number of promising performers, and six members competed at the National Speech and Debate tournament. They’re hoping to have another strong showing again this year as they have a huge team with many returning members.
