OHS Speech team prepares for home meet on Owatonna

Hajra Mohamed, Sumay Mohamud, Anna Dauffenbach, Courtney Kramer, Kristina Kaupa, Allyson Schroepfer, Michaela Bernard, Breanna Nelson, Adrienne Stout and Becca Dantzman make up part of the OHS Speech team this year.

OWATONNA — Seniors on the Speech team at Owatonna High School are deep into their season.

This week they’re preparing for a meet on the home turf, and on Monday they will be going to compete in sections and state. But for the seniors in the group, the long days and early mornings have all been worth it. The camaraderie and the feeling they get from the crowd pay off. Most of all, they have fun. In fact, many of the students who started late wish they had joined the Speech team earlier.

Speech members have a big commitment to the team. They have to be in at 6 a.m. to practice their piece and do everything needed for the competitions. But their job doesn’t end there. Depending on the category they compete in, members have to write speeches, read stories or research articles to prepare for their events. Then they need to practice their delivery to make sure they get the message across.

“Speech is probably the only thing that I can wake up for at 5:30 on a Saturday and still be in a somewhat good mood,” said senior Courtney Kramer.

By the time of the first meet, students were only just starting to improve. Senior Michaela Bernard explained that her original oratory piece started out exceeding the time limit in a preliminary stage. After each critique at the meets, she cut the routines down, reworked them and made them better.

Students also study their competitors for ideas of how they can improve.

“I definitely feel a difference in my speaking ability from the beginning of each year to the end of each year,” Bernard said.

The Speech meets are usually on Saturdays and they last all day. The first rounds will start in the morning and the teams will stay until the end of the awards ceremony in the late afternoon. During one competition, the team started out around six and didn’t get home until six.

Senior Kristina Kaupa described it as a 12-hour day of talking. The team talks on the ride there, they compete during the day and talk about how they think they did during the day, then they share their critiques and opinions with each other on the way home.

“The day stops once you get home. It’s a long day but a good day,” Kaupa said.

But everything is worth it, and it is mostly because of the people on the team. The team gets really close because they are together so much. They cheer for each other during the competitions. And most of all they hope their teammates win, even if they don’t.

“It’s nice to have individual success, but team success is even more important. There’s the anticipation you get when a team member hasn’t been called for second and their just about to announce the first place winner,” Bernard said.

If that’s not enough, they get the thrill of performing and doing well themselves. There may be nerves at first, but the members get up and give it a try. They take their critiques and improve. They do their best and try to give something back to the audience.

“The best part is when I’m speaking and I make a connection with someone in the audience. Whether they laugh at one of my jokes or nod in agreement, the moment that that one person has been impacted by your words is absolutely powerful,” Kramer said.

This week, the team is preparing for their own competition. They’ve been collecting door prizes, making posters, hiring judges and obtaining food. This meet is not really about the competition this time, though.

The team is more focused on being relaxed and having fun. For the seniors, it will be the last time they’ll work this meet.

“The home meet is more for fun. It’s not about getting it perfect and it’s less cutthroat. The Big Nine is next Monday, so it’s more of a warm up,” Kaupa said.

The home meet is set for Saturday, March 6, at Owatonna High School. The first round begins at 9:15 a.m.

Briana Gehring can be reached at 444-2378.

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