A Banner Day for Decorah Large Group Speech Teams

All State participants from Front row left to right: Kaitlyn Rooney, Brynne Valkosky, Alex Nesset, Jenna Galligan, Madelyn Fahey, Vita Domnenko, Molly Holkesvik, Max Sparrow, Paul Strand, Parker Grinna, Kara Hooper, Devin Brevig. Second row: Augusta Casterton, Marissa Weis, Caroline Knox-Reid, Christopher Miculinich, Claudia Cowie, Avery Dugger, Nick Bockman, Nathaniel Cowie, Maria Lea, Marissa Foels, Madelyn Jermier, Jacob Roher, Chance Elton, Josephine Verlage, Isaac Fish

Approximately 80 Decorah High School students made the trip to Ames on Saturday to perform at the coveted All-State Speech Festival at the Iowa State Center on the ISU campus.

Eight events were nominated as outstanding performances and joined other elite speech students from across the state to share their performances with a professional critic. Each critic 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.

Two Decorah groups were selected as banner recipients at this year's festival: a television news broadcast entitled "FOCUS: Loss of Innocence/Society's Gain" and a short film entitled "Pressure." Coach Molly Holkesvik had this to say about the two groups:

"The students in TV news and short film brought home the banner this weekend because they believed in the possibility to do so and worked endless hours to make it happen.  I am so excited for the students in both of these speech groups as they logged hundreds of hours writing, taping, editing, and editing some more. The grit these students showed this season made the banners possible, a lesson these students will take with them for years to come."

Cast members of Television News "FOCUS: Loss of Innocence/Society's Gain," directed by Molly Holkesvik, include Josephine Berlage, Devin Brevig, Chance Elton, Isaac Fish, Kayle Fjelstul, Marissa Foels, Parker Grinna, Kara Hooper, Madelyn Jermier, Maria Lea, Ann Meirick, Jacob Roher, Max Sparrow, Paul Strand, and Kasey Thompson.

The critic praised the FOCUS cast for their creativity, attention to detail, organization, and poise. The Dateline-like broadcast forced these students to tackle new technology and look beyond their knowledge of a typical news broadcast. As the critic stated, "Such a serious topic is really hard to do well, especially for teenagers; and these kids eloquently told a very important story from beginning to end. They had the whole package."  

Cast members of the Short Film "Pressure," directed by Molly Holkesvik, include Nick Bockman, Augusta Casterton, Nathaniel Cowie, Claudia Cowie, Vita Domnenko, Avery Dugger, Maddie Fahey, Jenna Galligan, Caroline Knox-Reid, Christopher Miculinich, Rylee Monteith, Alex Nesset, Kaitlyn Rooney, Brynne Valkosky, and Marissa Weis.

The short film examines the life of a teenager and the pressures she feels from day to day. The film starts with a typical high school scene--students walking and talking in the hallways--and abruptly transitions into a pool of water, where the main character treads through life trying to keep her world together. The film continues this back and forth movement from place to place as the main character adds more and more pressure to her life. So much so that, as the All-state critic explained, "The audience members feel pressure as they view the film."  After viewing the film, Superintendent Mike Haluska noted, "Now I'm wondering what I need to do to help kids handle the pressures of their lives."

Large groups speech directors Molly Holkesvik, Thomas Houdek, Carrie Kauffman, Gabe Twedt, and Kristen Underwood had this to say at the conclusion of this weekend's events. "With over 175 students participating to start the season, numerous division one ratings at all contests, ten outstanding all-state nominations, 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. DHS was once again well represented as one of the top speech programs in the state this past Saturday. A big thank you for all involved in the fire truck parade, the ringing of the victory bell, and for packing the house at all our performances throughout the season. Saturday night was a true celebration of our entire speech team!"

Students celebrate earning banners from All-State with a fire truck ride. Holding the banners left to right are: Augusta Casterton, Madelyn Jermier, Marissa Foels, Jacob Roher

Front row, left to right: Max Sparrow, Devin Brevig, Parker Grinna, Molly Holkesvik, Christopher Miculinch, Jenna Galligan, Madelyn Fahey, Brynne Valkosky, Paul Strand. Back row, left to right: Kara Hooper, Chance Elton, Maria Lea, Claudia Cowie, Marissa Weis, Nathaniel Cowie, Alex Nesset, Avery Duggar, Vital Domnenko, Caroline Know-Reid

Front row: Kara Hooper, Maria Lea, Molly Holkesvik. Second row: Devin Brevig, Max Sparrow, Parker Grinna, Paul Strand

Front row: Christopher Miculinich. Second row: Marissa Weis, Claudia Cowie, Caroline Knox-Reid, Vita Domnenko, Alex Nesset, Madelyn Fahey. Third row: Nathaniel Cowie, Molly Holkesvik, Brynne Valkosky, Jenna Galligan. Fourth row: Avery Duggar