Large number of Decorah HS students qualify for Individual All-State Speech Festival

Nine Decorah High School students will make the trip to Cedar Falls on Monday, March 30th, to perform at the All-State Speech Festival on the UNI campus. In addition, students in two speech categories received a non-performance All-State nominations.  It's the highest number of All-State Speech Festival nominations for Decorah High School since 2001.

The students selected earlier received outstanding ballots at the Northeast District State Individual Speech contest hosted by Starmont High School.  Those receiving outstanding ballots can receive a nomination to be part of the All-State Festival, which will include performances by the best speech students from across the state.

Decorah High School's individual speech participants are coached by Kristen Underwood, Molly Holkesvik, Gabe Twedt, and Thomas Houdek.

DHS Varsity speech individuals receiving performance nominations include:
Garret Baumler, Expository Address
Dalton Brown, Storytelling
Micheal Foster, Original Oratory
Parker Fretheim, Solo Musical Theater
Steven Holkesvik, Acting
Connor Freeman, Spontaneous Speaking
Gara Lonning, Improvisation
Will Yahr, Improvisation

Decorah 9th grade speech performer receiving a nomination was:
Josh Nierengarten, Improvisation

Nonperformers
Micheal Foster, Spontaneous Speaking
Gara Lonning, Acting