Elkader Central shines in state speech

ELKADER - Las month, the Central Community High School's Large Group Speech team performed at the state speech competition, hosted by Waterloo West High School.

The 30-member team is coached by Ann Gritzner, who has been coaching high schoolers on how to perform and speak in front of an audience for 10 years.

The high school team participated in six performances, including five small groups and an individual actress.

The hard work began in late November and participation at previous performances paid off with six division one ratings at the state competition.

Large Group Speech is an opportunity for high school students to perform in front of an audience. The students can perform in a variety of speech categories, ranging from improvisation to solo mime. Gritzner holds tryouts in late November and decides which category the team will participate in and who will perform together.

'Speech requires less time commitment for busy students,” Gritzner said, giving her recruiting pitch. 'My goal is to make speaking in front of people a fun, not frightening experience for young people.”

Once speech groups are arranged, the groups practice twice a week for about an hour. The groups perform the same short piece, making small changes in how a line is said. They work on timing, speed, volume and vocal variety.

'We laugh a lot in practice and we value each person's opinion,” Gritzner said. 'These are great lessons that can be applied to any extracurricular activity. Specific to speech, I think learning to appreciate the art of telling a story and how important not only word choice is but how you deliver the words is also very important.”

The speech team works for perfection before its performances. The Upper Iowa Conference Speech Competition acts as the team's dress rehearsal. The following meet, district speech, is the competition that decides the team's fate. One judge evaluates their performance. rating based off a one to four rating scale. A four rating is the worse rating, resulting in disqualification and a one is the best possible rating. Each group performs at districts. If they get a division one rating, they move on to state speech. Any other rating results in an end to the season. Typically, 60 percent of all competing groups move on.

This year, all of Central's performances moved on to state.

At state competition, the groups perform in front of three judges. If two out of the three judges give one ratings, the group averages a division one rating. To go to all-state, two judges have to recommend the group. The trip to all-state is rare and a huge honor.

'Judges are looking for that special ‘something' that separates you from the 30 or 50 other performances they have seen that day,” Gritzner said. 'All-state would not be the honor it is if the judges weren't tough.”

On the day of state, the performers give it their best effort. Carissa Moyna, a senior on the team, said 'at State, I had to be confident when I performed and gave it my all.”

This year, Central competed with six performances.

The Reader's Theatre group consisted of Mesa Engelhardt, Jeran Cook, Rachel Berg, Samantha Weidner, Jenna Jansen, Justin Deshaw, Jacob Jansen, Olivia Backes, Cassie Spielbauer, Trista Curran, Dillon Schuety, Ciera Dietchler, Olha Prots, Nick Sylvester and Melanie Lane.

The Choral Reading piece was performed by Anna Tuecke, Levi Tuecke, Ariel Dennler, Moyna, Desi Weber, Gabrielle Lenth, Hannah Kuehl, Kristi Eberhardt, Mackenzie Vlazny, Mary Kate Wille, Megan Nemechek, Melanie Lane, Rachel Berg, Tess Hilgerson and Samantha Weidner. Hannah Kuehl, Jeran Cook, Justin Deshaw, Mesa Engelhardt, Mackenzie Vlazny, Dillon Schuety, Nick Sylvester, Austin Sylvester and Tracy Curran made up the two improvisation groups.

Levi Tuecke, Anna Tuecke and Caitlin Mahoney created an entry for Radio Broadcast. Moyna also participated in Solo Mime. Although Solo Mime is an individual act, it still is included in the large group competition. It is the only individual act in Large Group.

All six performances received division one ratings, but no all-state nominations.

'I had to adjust to the space with my solo mime, but I did the best I've ever done,” Moyna said. 'For the larger piece (Choral Reading), we can always improve on facial expression, but we also did the best we've ever done.”

Moyna and Gritzner were ecstatic about the day's results. Through Gritzner's 10 years of coaching, she has never sent a group to the all-state competition.

'I do not measure our success in all-state nominations,” she said. 'I look at the growth we have made from day one to state competition and I am very proud of all of the students. All 31 students showed great commitment to speech. They each overcame the fear of performing in front of an audience.

'I hope they all are as proud of our accomplishments as I am.”

Gritzner credits a lot the team's success to the leadership of the seniors.

'I have eight seniors who have been four year members of the speech team,” Gritzner said. 'Carissa (Moyna) is great because she puts every emotion into each piece. She is great for younger students to watch and see how it is done.”

The successful coach appreciates all of her senior's talents and takes great pride in them all.

Even though Central's team is known for success, it doesn't come easy.

For most sports, schools compete against schools of their same size. However, in speech, schools of every size compete against each other. This year, at state, 75 schools across northeast Iowa competed. The majority of the 75 are larger schools. For large schools, most members are only involved in speech and their only focus is speech. At Central, most students have a busy winter with two sports. This results in scheduling conflicts. It also is difficult to get everyone at practice on time.

Yet with the cooperation of Gritzner, other sports coaches and dedicated high schoolers, the large group speech team is rewarded with continual success.

'We do well because we commit ourselves to our groups and thrive for quality practices,” Moyna said. 'Also, our coaches do a great job making our schedules work. It's not difficult.”

Although Large Group Speech is coming to a close, individual speech is heating up. The Central Individual Speech Team, coached by Carolyn Yanda, has begun practicing for their speech season. Individual Speech works the same way as Large Group, only there are different categories and the participants performs alone. The Individual Speech team will compete Saturday in the district competition.