March 28, 2024

CHS sends 11 teams to state speech

Creston’s participation in large group speech competition has more than doubled in its first year under speech coach Laura Granger.

Clothed in white shirts and black trousers with red scarves tied around their heads, 15 Creston High School students formed a circle on the auditorium stage Thursday night, working themselves into the pirate mood.

“Give me your best pirate face,” called speech coach Laura Granger, prompting a chorus of “arrghs” and snarls. “Lips curled up, eyebrows flashing.”

Following some additional character exercises, the members of Creston’s large group speech team began practicing their choral reading performance, titled “Pirates of the Choral.” Co-written by Granger herself, it’s a witty piece written especially for the category, which blends reading, acting and choreographed movement.

The choral reading group is one of 11 groups from Creston High School that qualified for Saturday’s state speech competition in Waukee after receiving overall I ratings at the district competition Jan. 23. Creston had entered 16 acts at district level, totaling nearly 60 students.

That involvement is more than double last year’s.

Granger, who is in her first year teaching speech and drama at Creston after spending eight years at Audubon, works with the team along with high school language arts teacher Danielle Dickinson.

Granger said the key to bringing so many students into the program this year started in the fall, recruiting those who typically weren’t involved in the speech program. It was a strategy that involved seasoned speech veterans like senior Mariah Harlan, who’s in her fourth year on the team.

“She had us go out and actually tell people about (speech),” Harlan said, “and I think a lot more people were interested in seeing what it was.”

Granger said the result was 70 students trying out for the team, with about 60 eventually joining. And even with a group of that size, Granger said there’s been a place for everyone.

“They have a saying that ‘There’s no bench in speech’ — we’ll find something that fits your strength,” Granger said. “We have people that do tech and they’re behind-the-scenes people, and we have people filming short films, and you get the people that like wearing costumes and dancing and making funny faces — we have places for them.”

This dramatic growth in speech involvement comes in the same year Creston's high school marching band grew to 105 members, the most in at least two decades. John Reasoner, a sophomore who's in his second year on the speech team, said fine arts seems to be on the rise at school.

“I really think it’s been the last few years, and I really think it’s the administration, too, putting a lot of emphasis on it,” he said.

Sixty students was enough to divide Creston into a freshman team and a varsity speech team, something the school hadn’t done in previous years. The 11 state-qualifying acts include choral reading, a one-act play, ensemble acting, two group improvisation teams, four musical theater teams, a short film and TV news. Among them, Granger said, are both acts from the freshman team.

Saturday, if one of Creston’s acts receives an overall I rating and a nomination from at least two of the three judges, it will also perform at all-state Feb. 20 at Iowa State University in Ames, an event that showcases the best high school speech acts in the state of Iowa.

But Granger isn’t talking much about that quite yet.

“I’m superstitious, so I always have to knock on wood,” Granger said. “I call it the ‘big dance’ until it’s done because you have to actually get nominated in order to go there. ... It’s just kind of personal opinion, so it’s very subjective, and it’s hard telling.”

Granger said she believes this year’s acts, including the pirates, stand a good chance.