Inaugural season for the PACT Speech team!

The PACT speech team is a new extra curricular here in our school. It’s coached by our very own Ms. Ruppert, a language arts teacher. This is the very first year PACT has had a competitive sport that is academic in nature. The captains are Katie Crosby and Jordan Derosa. These two are the oldest on the team; both are Juniors. They have meets all over the state ranging from Anoka High School all the way to Benson.

When asked what they did at the beginning of the season to set goals, Ms. Ruppert said “The students all made goals at the beginning of the season, but because it's a brand new extracurricular they didn’t really know what to do. So halfway through the season they made new goals now that they know what it's all about.” As they get more experience, they hope to do better and keep getting better and be able to compete with the big schools. The hope for this season from all the team members is to grow as a team and get more experience for the next season.

The speech team has done fairly well being it’s their first season ever. Team member Katie Crosby commented, “I am really proud of my team. We have come so far from the Anoka meet, our first meet. The first meet was kind of nerve-racking but it has become easier. I’d have to say that speech is the best things that came out of high school.”

There are 13 categories in speech; they fall into two major categories before they are split into smaller ones. These are a couple of categories. Humorous interpretation is very competitive because everyone wants to be funny. Duo interpretation is for two people. It can be from a play or a book, It could be serious or funny. Storytelling and extemporaneous reading are limited preparation. The state selects a book for extemporaneous reading, and competitors don’t know what chapter they’re reading until 30 minutes before the round. There are 3 rounds for every meet, but in storytelling and extemporaneous reading there’s a different chapter and story for each round.

There are also categories that involve Public Address. Some of these include Informative and Great Speeches. Informative speaking is where you inform your audience on a topic of your choice. It must not exceed 8 minutes. Great Speeches is where you analyze a great speech in history. Also like informative, it cannot exceed 8 minutes.

Each team member has a category that they compete in at the meets. Here is each member’s category taken from the PACT Speech team website:

• Katie Crosby: Serious Prose; Serious Prose Interpretation uses any published selection of prose, fiction or nonfiction.which means you take a cutting from a book and make it into a speech. (it’s supposed to be a serious topic)

• Jordan DeRosa: Discussion; Problem-solving Discussion is an effort on the part of a small group to reach a solution to a problem through informal interchange of facts, inferences, and judgments.

• Megan Pangier: Serious Poetry; Serious Poetry Interpretation uses any published poetry selection, including novels in verse with literary merit and appropriate to the reader.

• Kendra DeRosa: Extemp Reading; Reads an excerpt of The Book Thief, she will draw three cuttings, and put two back and then she will have to put that together with an introduction in 30 minutes.

• Sierra Brumm: Storytelling; When you get to competition, you draw three possible fairy tales and choose the one you want to perform. The cuttings come from a book of fairy tales from around the world. Sierra has to have intros ready for all of them.

• Noah Scholl: Humorous; Humorous Interpretation uses any published selection, either prose, poetry, or dramatic literature, with literary merit and appropriate to the reader. The cutting should amuse, give enjoyment, or create laughter, meaning the book can be serious overall, but the part of the book used should be funny. The use of gestures is optional.

This season the team planned on getting better at speaking and having more actions while they speak to impress the judges. Crosby said “You need to have actions; it's like telling a story; if you don’t have actions or something to show, the speech is boring.”

The season officially starts December. They do not have any home meets because the team is too small. So you could make the difference and allow the PACT speech team to have home meets by joining the team.

According to Crosby, practice is individual where students meet with Ms. Ruppert and she acts as a judge and critiques them like a judge would to help them get better. During a team practice they practice their speeches and they also go over when they have to be there on the Saturday the day of their meet. Sometimes they talk about details about things that are coming up on their schedule.

Ms. Ruppert and captain Katie Crosby encourage everyone to come check out the Showcase on April 1st at 6:30 PM in the PACT Cafetorium. A showcase is where they can show off what speeches they are doing. It is FREE, so feel free to pop in and enjoy all the great speeches.

“We went to Melrose last Saturday, which is like an hour and a half away. It was a lot of fun because they had a lip sync battle. Megan participated and did the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, which is our team's theme song. All of the people are very welcoming and nice,” said Katie.

Some people may say that speech isn’t for them because of the public speaking aspect, but Crosby says that “if you’re afraid of public speaking, then joining speech would be a good strategy to get over that fear. Some people might also think that speech includes speaking in front of a lot of people, but in rounds you only speak directly in front of 5-7 other competitors and a judge. The other competitors are usually really supportive and nice, so it’s a welcoming environment.”

Speech can clearly help people overcome their fears of public speaking. However, some may wonder whether it’s worth it. Why go through all that potential embarrassment? “Speech looks good on resumes and applications to show that you’re a well-rounded person with good communication skills,” said Ms Ruppert.

“Not everyone will play basketball in their future career, but chances are high that you’ll have to speak in front of an audience. There are various scholarships available through the National Forensics League and other speaking organizations.” Ms Ruppert makes a good point about public speaking - one reticent students should consider. The fact that scholarships are available makes Speech Team a sweeter deal.

Interested students that are wanting to join, or just find out how to prepare, “should come to the informational meeting in October/November and you can practice a few times. You have to officially register before meets start in January, but you can get a feel for it in practice during the month of December” said Ruppert.

If you are wondering how you can find out how to get involved, you can “take a look at the categories and see which ones you might like. Then talk to Ms. Ruppert; you can start finding or cutting a script now to compete with next season!” Also you could come to the speech showcase April 1st.

The speech team at PACT is looking to grow for next season. If you’re interested, contact Ms. Ruppert or any of the students listed in the article. You can also check out how the PACT team is doing here: PACT Speech Results. You can also follow them on Instagram @pactspeech