Northland qualifies 89 speakers to state speech meet

BROOKLYN PARK — Eighty-nine students from 27 Northern Minnesota speech teams will compete at the state meet Friday and Saturday, April 24-25, at Park Center High School.

Over 30 are repeat qualifiers, including five who medaled at state last year and reigning Discussion champion, Red Lake County junior Hayden Shulstad.

Staples-Motley senior Walker Johnson will be looking to join a relatively short list of four-time state medalists. Only 66 students have done so over five decades, with just 11 of them from Northern Minnesota.

Johnson was seventh last year in Creative Expression. She qualified again in the same category.

Northland schools compete across five sections, two in Class 2A and three in Class 1A.

Three earned the title of section champions: Pequot Lakes (6A), Cherry (7A) and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (8A).

The 2A meet is set for Friday and 1A for Saturday.

Spectators can attend the state meet. The award ceremonies can be streamed for free at NSPN.tv. Awards are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. each day.

How does speech work?

Speech is a unique activity with a lot of quirks. The content of a speech or even the format of the round can vary significantly depending on the category. There are two types: public address and interpretation.

Public address includes Informative, Original Oratory — where students deliver a persuasive speech — and Great Speeches —where students analyze a speech and aim to convince their audience of its significance. All of the content in these categories is written by the students.

Do you know a North Star Student?

We want to recognize Northern MN students for their athletic accomplishments, artistic endeavors, academic achievements or other efforts.

Nominate a Student

Discussion and Extemporaneous Speaking also fall under this grouping. In Discussion, the students in the round are given a task based on a different theme each year, and they work together to accomplish the task. While they work as a group, students are still ranked and are judged on the quality of their contributions, active listening skills and treatment of other participants.

This year's theme is "The Future of Belonging: Finding Community In A Fragmented World," which includes discussions on a range of topics, from global resource disparities to the decline of community "togetherness."

Ex Speaking is one of three draw categories, where students choose one of three prompts a half-hour before their speaking time and prepare their speech in the next 30 minutes. In Ex Speaking, the prompt is a current events question. Students use the prep time to research, write and practice their seven-minute persuasive speech, where they answer the question and convince the judge of their answer.

The other draw categories are Extemporaneous Reading and Storytelling, which are both interpretive. In Ex Reading, the prompts are three different cuttings of a pre-selected work. Students choose between the prose, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, or the poetry, The Name She Gave Me. Students read from the book in the round.

In Storytelling, the prompts are stories; this year, wisdom-themed folktales from The Gutenberg Project. Students retell the story from memory in an entertaining style, often using characters and voices.

In Humor, Drama, Poetry and Prose, students perform a 10-minute published piece, with the tone and style in line with the category's name. In Duo Interpretation, speeches can be funny or serious, and two students give the performance but cannot look at or touch each other.

Creative Expression is also a 10-minute performance and can be funny, serious or a mix of both. But in this category, the speech is written by the performer.