Local teams qualify for all-state large group speech festival

Creston, Lenox, Mount Ayr and Nodaway Valley have advanced one team each to the the Iowa High School Speech Association’s all-state large group speech festival, an event recognizing the best high school speech teams in Iowa.

Dillon Bennett and Allen Hoffman, both seniors at Lenox High School, will perform in the group improvisation category at the festival, which will be held Feb. 20 at the Iowa State Center in Ames.

A group improvisation team from Mount Ayr High School and short films from Creston High School and Nodaway Valley High School will attend as non-performing acts.

To qualify for all-state, an act must receive an overall I rating at state competition, as well as nominations from at least two of the state judges. The highest-ranking acts among the all-state nominees in each category advance as performing acts, meaning they will perform at the festival.

Lisa Mongar, who’s coached speech at Lenox for the past 20 years, said both Bennett and Hoffman have been in speech several years and have good chemistry with each other. They’re also able to stay calm on their feet, she said, which is vital in group improvisation, a category that involves drawing random situations and acting them out with only minutes of preparation.

“We haven’t had anybody go in group improv in many, many years,” Mongar said. “We’re really proud of the boys. They did a great job.”

Creston High School will advance the short film "Are You Chicken?" Speech coach Laura Granger describes it as a dark comedy about a chicken's quest to end a farmer from killing his family. Students who worked on the film include senior Miguel Villegas and sophomores Evan Taylor, Trisha Cole, Shaun Irelan, Josh Harris and Cameron Millslagle.

“With the exception of Miguel, all the other kids (working on the film) were first-timers in speech,” Granger said. “So that was pretty cool for them.”

After participation in group speech more than doubled, CHS had advanced 11 acts to state speech competition Feb. 6. Granger said six of these acts received overall I ratings.

“Obviously you want all of them to be able to get a I rating, but it’s a pretty tough competition, especially in the southwest,” Granger said. “Overall I think it was a really good showing for the kids and some of them are hungry then for next year to do even better.”

Students working on Nodaway Valley’s all-state short film, titled “You’re Loved,” include Anna Funke, Liam Mahoney, Allison Scheel and Kayci Emerson.

Mount Ayr’s all-state group improvisation team includes Lew Knapp, Abbey Schafer, Hallie Still, William Young and Will Hunt.