NV speech team sends eight events to state large group

Nodaway Valley’s speech team is advancing eight events to the state large group speech contest scheduled for Saturday at Valley High School in West Des Moines.

All eight entries earned Division I ratings at a recent district contest, qualifying them for state competition. The speech team coaches are head coach Lauren Ernst, assistant coach Sam Grubisich and volunteer assistant Brenda Plymesser.

Seniors Caroline Britten and Lea Stonebraker are part of a group improvisation act that advanced, along with Erik Jensen and Paul Kading.

“Improv is really fun to perform, and I enjoy doing it with my friends,” Britten said. “You’re given topics to choose from. You draw three different topics and choose one to perform. You have two minutes to plan what you’re going to do and set up the five chairs you can use, and then you have five minutes to perform your prompt.”

The group’s district-level prompt was “A group of dancers face challenges at a competition.”

“It was pretty funny,” Britten said.

Stonebraker said success in improvisation depends on how well the group works together.

“Improv is a difficult event, and the group I’m a part of helps make large group speech enjoyable and entertaining,” she said.

The team’s third senior, Kacie Ford, is part of an ensemble acting group also advancing to state — a performance Stonebraker said impressed her.

“It’s like a short story, and our story is about three girls who are in outer space having a pretty terrible time,” Ford said. “It’s 15 minutes or less and completely memorized. It can be hard because even when you’re not speaking, you have to act, interact and react. You have to stay in character for the entire 15 minutes.”

Other members of Ford’s ensemble acting group are Melanie Kilborn, Kayla Stormer and Ava Jenkins.

Ford also praised Nodaway Valley’s musical theater group — Bella Day, Stormer and Kaylee Van Horn — who will perform selections from "Mamma Mia" at state. Britten said she was impressed by the boys ensemble acting group, which performed The Christmas Truce. That group includes Dominic Breheny, Lyrick Schwartz, Haden Colton and Keland Schwartz.

Other state-qualifying events include group mime by Mya Larson and Kenzie Lilly and short film by Day, Vivienne Burnside and Michidel Mercado.