By Emily Yager
Last Saturday, Seniors Tetta Askeland and Logan Hemphill performed their duo “The Book of Awesome” at All-State.

The Book of Awesome is a book by Neil Pasricha that includes chapters of awesome things. A chapter can be as short as “When you push the elevator button and it’s already there. Ding. Awesome.” Every chapter begins with what it is and finishes with “awesome”. Pashricha is also the author of the blog http://1000awesomethings.com/.

Askeland found a pair of students on youtube who performed sections from the book, and at the beginning of the school year came to speech coach Matthew Smith with the idea. “They chose 11 things out of the book that were awesome and ran with them,” Smith said. Hemphill’s favorite thing to perform was number eight, using rock, paper, scissors to settle anything. Askeland said, “I really like number six which is pushing the button for the elevator and it’s already there.” She said if she could add another awesome thing to their duo, it would be taking illegal naps.

Hemphill said All-State was, “an amazing experience and I am grateful that I got to do it. I got to see some really cool pieces I’ve never seen before.”
Askeland said, “All-state was fun. We got to see a lot of different events we knew little about, like musical theater.”

Askeland has participated in speech all four years of high school, and Hemphill has participated sophomore through senior year. Askeland said over the season they improved the most in just being comfortable in what they do. Smith said they improved the most in taking their time. “Tetta and Logan are both very good at speaking and presenting,” Smith said. He added the only thing they needed to work on was slowing down. Hemphill said he practiced more this season than he had in previous years. The duo practiced twice a week.

Throughout the season, the duo has performed The Book of Awesome at four events. At NFL National Qualifiers they earned 8th place and made it into semifinals. They received a division 1 rating at large group and got straight 1 ratings at state.

The awesome things they performed were: 1, having the ability to skip any chapter you don’t want to read. 2, finding your keys after looking forever. 3, eating the perfect nacho off of someone else’s plate. 4, waking up and realizing it’s Saturday. 5, when you know all the numbers to speed through the automated telephone system. 6, pushing the button for the elevator and it’s already there. 7, absolutely perfect silence. 8, using rock, paper, scissors to settle anything. 9, remembering the name of someone you met earlier. 10, when you suddenly laugh out loud at something that happened earlier. 11, remembering how blessed we are to be right here right now.