Decorah HS speech teams do very well at All-State

Speech students got a ride back into town on the Decorah fire trucks (Photo courtesy of Tim Dugger)

Two Decorah High School speech groups were named best of the best at Saturday's All-State Speech Festival at the Iowa State Center in Ames.

Ensemble Acting and the ninth grade Short Film were recognized by judges as the outstanding performers in those categories.  Each judge selects one performance at the end of the day and awards a banner to that entry signifying them as "best of center" in that category. The banner winner, in the eyes of the critic, represents a "state championship" quality performance that stands out above the rest.

The Ensemble Acting entry was directed by Kristen Underwood and Sarah Magner and performed by Charles Baldwin, Simon Cropp, Olivia Dieschbourg, Paul Fadness, Parker Fretheim, and Shelby Stalberger.

The 9th grade Short Film entry was directed by Naomi Davidson, Gara Lonning, and James Lee and featured Nick Bockman, Avery Dugger, Jenna Galligan, Anna Hanson, Dawson Holkesvik, Jonah Johnson, Alexandra Nesset, Jarod Phillips, Rachelle Sullivan and Brynne Valkosky.

A school record 14 speech events qualified to attend Saturday's All-State Speech Festival.  Around 115 DHS students were members of those events.

Large groups speech directors Molly Holkesvik, Thomas Houdek, Sarah Magner, Gabe Twedt, and Kristen Underwood said, "With over 200 students participating to start the season, setting school records for division one ratings and all-state selections, and two banners awarded to our teams, the success of these students speaks for itself. But in our eyes, the true success of the season is witnessing their unbelievable work ethic, the compassion for their teammates, and the smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes when they have finished performing."