A record 16 Decorah High School entries will attend Saturday's Large Group Speech All-State Festival in Ames

Posted: Thu, Feb 20, 2020 10:16 AM

Decorah High School is celebrating its best-ever performance at the Large Group Speech Contest. The Vikings took 25 entries to the regional contest and 23 came home with a top Division I rating. A record 16 Decorah High School entries were rated as outstanding and earned spots at Saturday's All-State Festival, which will include performances by the best speech students from across the state. In TV News Performing, all three nominations were Decorah groups, sweeping that category.

DHS speech groups receiving a nomination as an All-State Honoree include one choral reading, one ensemble acting, one group mime, two musical theaters, two radio broadcasting, two reader's theaters, one short film, two solo mimes, three television news, and a one-act play.

Cast lists for those groups performing are as follows:

Choral Reading "We Are Human" was directed by Molly Holkesvik. Participants include Shayla Betts, Katherine Bruening, Conner Cook, Joseph Courtney, Sofie Grouws, Abby Hanson, Aidan Hunter, Amber Hussain, Amanda Kavan, Angel Peña-Rodriguez, Maddie Putnam, Ella Runestad, Will Schwartz, Kaj Spencer, and Mya Sullivan.

Ensemble Acting "The Other Room" was directed by Kristen Underwood. Participants include Drew Chamberlain, Ruby Langholz, Annette Leschensky, Landon Miller, AJ Morrow, and Dylan Muhlbauer.

Group Mime "Fly Away" was directed by Carrie Kauffman and Molly Holkesvik. Participants include Connor Cook, Danielle Lundtvedt, Angel Peña-Rodriguez, Sophie Schwarz, and Will Schwarz.

Musical Theater "Come From Away" was directed by Gabe Twedt and Carrie Kauffman. Participants include Joseph Courtney, Amber Hussain, Leila Johnson, Nolan Jostand, Ruby Langholz, Lily Smith, and Kaj Spencer.

Musical Theater "Newsies" was directed by Gabe Twedt and Carrie Kauffman. Participants include Ally Bouska, Finn Deen-Lester, Tyler Irwin, Mitch Leschensky, Annette Leschensky, Noah Lovelace, Dylan Muhlbauer, and Katie Storlie.

Radio Broadcasting was directed by Gabe Twedt. "KART" participants include Morgan Dlhy, Alysa Hanson, Kaya Hines, Abby Moen, Mara Pankow, Allison Pavlovec, Tate Schissel, and Payton Taylor. "KOST" participants include Kiersten Benson, Lillian Grouws, Nils Holkesvik, Amanda Kuehner, Jenna Lundtvedt, Payton Schutte, and Anna Tallier.

Reader's Theater "The Old Moon" was directed by Gabe Twedt and Carrie Kauffman. Participants include Kendra Bigler, Katie Bjergum, Blake Donlon, Owen Henning, Karen Henriquez, Leila Johnson, Sierra Kruger, Noah Lovelace, Asha Merritt, Sarah Pedlar, Mya Sullivan, Britta Swanson, Katie Valkosky, and Peter Wilson.

Short Film "224" was directed by Molly Holkesvik. Participants include Koryn Bakken, Katie Bjergum, Anna Blaess, Cai Brevig, Fiona Buresh, Brielle Buresh, Braden Elton, Edwin Holyoake, MiKenna Martin, AJ Morrow, Kalea Oftedahl, Grace Robison, and Samantha See.

Solo Mime entries were directed by Gabe Twedt, Carrie Kauffman, and Molly Holkesvik: "Say Cheese!" by Kendra Bigler and "Boy" by Finn Deen-Lester.

TV News was directed by Gabe Twedt and Molly Holkesvik. "Crisis: The Conflict Within" cast includes Drew Chamberlain, Emma Brauer, Grace Gerleman, Sofie Grouws, Aidan Hunter, Anya Lovstuen, Keneddy Manhart, Emma Nierengarten, Samantha Reilly, Kaitlyn Schnitzler, Kari Tangen, Nia Whitsitt, Ruby Sullivan, and Rebecca Klotzbach.

"Iowa Wild" cast includes Liz Clement, Landan Folkedahl, Thomas Hadley, Owen Henning, Nils Holkesvik, Mara Holland, Brendan Hunter, Lydia Ihde, Nolan Jacobsen, Kaia Neal, Mara Pankow, Kassidy Steines, Kiersten Benson, Brooke Berns, and Keely Hermanson.

9th grade TV News "Impact: Reconstructing the American Justice System" was directed by Molly Holkesvik. Participants include Rebecca Anderson, Sophia Christman, Ella Grouws, Alex Kane, Brinley Krivachek, Jake Magner, Grace Neal, Kortni O'Connell, Bekah Pedlar, Annalise Skrade, Daniel Skrade, and Ethan Stravers.

The following have been selected as outstanding non-performing at the All-State Festival:

One Act "Candid" was directed by Kristen Underwood. Participants include Luke Benzing, Patrick Bockman, Ally Bouska, Owen Bruening, Logan Halverson, Tyler Irwin, Galen Iverson, Mitch Leschensky, Andrew Magner, Maddie Putnam, Sam Robinson, Seth Shindelar, and Katie Storlie.

9th grade Reader's Theater "Macadamia Mayhem or How the Nut Cracked" was directed by Gabe Twedt and Carrie Kauffman. Participants include Rebecca Anderson, Junior Battle, Casey Brickley, Sophia Christman, Ella Grouws, Alex Kane, Franklin Lesmeister, Ada Lovelace, Jake Magner, Ethan Stravers, and Max Wilson.