Speech team is an extracurricular activity in which students have the opportunity to improve their public speaking skills through a variety of fun and challenging events. “It is composed of fourteen different events,” explained Anna Flemming, a senior, who has been involved with the team for the past four years. “There are acting events, events where you write your own speech, events where you read pieces of books or poems, events where you read someone else’s speech, and ‘on the spot’ events.”

After choosing the events of interest and practicing them, students then perform at competitions against other high schools throughout the entire season. They present their speeches in three different rounds categorized by their particular event, and are ranked for the overall performance.

So far, the speech team has attended two tournaments, one on November 5th and one on November 12th, at which many students have received awards for their outstanding performances. Freshman Aaditya Rawal, who is new to the team this year, placed in the Novice division in the first meet and won second place in the Varsity division in the second meet for Extemporaneous Speaking. “I was really nervous at first,” he recalled. “But after the first round, I felt a little calmer.” Aaditya also expressed his amazement at his placement in the tournament. “The first time, a lot of people placed, so I didn’t think much of it,” he described. “The second time, I was surprised where I placed. I came second to the person who went to state last year!”

Sophomore Maddie Mocchi, who also joined speech team this year, was thrilled at her performance. She felt “really glad, because a lot of people [had] told [her] it would be hard to place in [her] event, Prose Reading.” The reasoning behind this was due to the fact “so many people participate in [that event].”

However, despite the difficulty, the speech team members have done an excellent job in placing in the tournaments. So far, seventeen people received awards in the first tournament, and fourteen people placed in the second. “I have high hopes!” exclaimed Mrs. Hartnett, who is one of the coaches for speech team, along with Mrs. Pham and Mr. Kennett. “I would love to see us be the conference champs! We definitely have that possibility!”

Yet, the members aren’t letting their outstanding performances get inside their heads. “The conferences have made me more determined to work harder, and keep up the good work!” reasoned Cecilia Smith, a sophomore, who is new to speech team this year as well. She has placed first for Impromptu Speaking twice, once in the Novice Division and once in the Varsity Division. “There’s always more room to get better.”

“We have a lot of kids place,” added Mrs. Hartnett. “But it’s not about the prizes or the trophies. I like watching the individual growth. Every kid on the speech team gets exponentially better. Not only do they gain public-speaking skills, but they grow in self-confidence.” In addition, Mrs. Hartnett is “extremely excited because [they] not only have strong and dedicated returning seniors, especially Anna Flemming, but [the team has] a lot of talented freshmen and sophomores this year as well.”

While the speech team is looking forward to an awesome season ahead, the members are also excited to have a great time. Olivia Jensen, who is a returning sophomore, has “tons of friends in Speech Team, so it’ll be fun…to hang out with them.” Jimmy Bossemeyer, a freshman, who performs Humorous Duet Acting with Olivia, also agrees that “it’s pretty good [because] everyone is very supportive of one another.”

“We all bond in some way or another,” Anna Flemming reflected. “ We cry when one of our friends really deserves to win and he or she does not. We cheer whenever one of us places. We all feel so proud of our improving teammates.”