For speech and debate students, District Large Group is coming up on Saturday, Jan. 19. The event will be held at Clarinda High School, and the public can attend the event. A suggested $3 donation can also be made.

Fifteen students from AHS are planning to attend the competition. There are a total of four events to compete, including a one-act play, improv, ensemble acting and group mime, and students can be in up to two events.

Each category has different requirements and details, such as improv. The topic for improv is chosen the day of the competition and participants only have a few minutes to prepare. However, for the one act, participants have a memorized script, props and a set.

Practices for this competition are much shorter and more focused on certain aspects of the event, compared to others. Students are given the opportunity to choose which categories they would like to compete in, but speech advisors Trisha Niceswanger and Alex Bales also take into account what each student would do well in.

One benefit of participating includes betterment in public speaking, and according to Bales, it also “opens you up to different experiences and different ideas that people share at the competitions.”