Every year speech and debate participants across Iowa are invited to showcase their talents at the All State Speech Festival. To get to the all-state speech, one must first proceed from the district and state tournaments. At All State, there are also no judges, but rather critics who make comments on the performances. This year AHS sent 6 students to All State to perform for their last time this year.
Amongst the group, 4 of them experienced All-State one last time. Seniors Alix Nath, Nissa Molgaard, Megan Birge, and J. Molina all participated in this year’s festival. Nath described the invitation to All State Speech as “.. a means of honoring and showcasing the best performers and pieces in the State. This is an amazing opportunity to.. showcase your own work after getting to this point. It is an amazing opportunity and we were all proud of ourselves and each other for making it this far.”
This year was Molgaard’s second year at All State so this experience was especially memorable for her. “I performed spontaneous speaking at All-State and my topic was “Is TV news media biased?” I have done Spontaneous Speaking since my freshman year, and it is an honor to receive recognition for all of the hours that I have put into speech and debate,” said Molgaard.
J. Molina is a senior who has been a stand out throughout their 4 years at AHS. This year Molina was nominated for two speeches, “One was an Original Oratory, a persuasive speech, and the other was an After-Dinner speech, a semi-formal and often humorous speech addressed to a special audience. I wrote and competed with my OO during our first speech season of the year, practicing it at that time. I started writing my After Dinner speech last school year and finished it the week of the competition. That last-minute writing is a pretty classic move from me.”
Megan Birge was nominated for her Poetry performance called “CPTSD,” and described it as “a mix of different poems composed by Rose Brik and other various authors.” Birge also spoke about her relationship with her coach, Mrs. Koenig (Niceswanger.) She described Koenig as an additional “parent” to her, and credited her to being an important part of her success during high school. Birge wants to encourage all students to try speech at least once during high school, and to remember that “Not everything has to be acting or done in front of somebody. Join, it’s super fun!”
Margaret McCurdy, a junior at AHS, has been nominated all 3 years of high school. She explained that her speeches “mean the world” to her, and that they are personal topics and are a “call to action.” McCurdy added, “The most important part of speech to me is being able to leave an impact with my words. Having a speech that centers on a topic I care about and leaves the audience seriously pondering is vital to my love of speech and why the activity is such a significant form of expression.”
Sophie Johnson is also a junior at AHS, and this year she was nominated for non-performing Poetry. The poem called “Sincerely Me” is about anxiety, which Johnson expresses great empathy for. Johnson was especially proud of this nomination as only 65 other students have been nominated.
Year after year, AHS has had a strong presence at the All State Speech festival, each time bringing home lasting memories with their peers. Aside from friendships that speech kindles, the rigor and experience helps students embark on academic challenges.
