What a long, strange trip it’s been. Speech students began their season in November by selecting pieces to perform, cutting them down to an eight-minute time limit, and practicing, practicing, practicing. Amidst all their hard work on their performances, students also planned and served their pancake breakfast fund raiser, assisted KCP with their dinner theater fundraiser, took over some coaching duties for me while I recovered from surgery, played basketball, were in One-Act, performed in Band and Choir Solo & Ensemble AND Large Group Contests, did lots and lots and lots of homework, played softball and baseball, joined track, worked at jobs, taught dance class, served as Student Government representatives, cared for siblings, and somehow, still managed to have a social life. These busy kids traveled to Annandale Saturday, March 31, for the Central 5A Subsection tournament to vie for the chance to compete at the Section 5A tournament in New London-Spicer on Saturday, April 14. I am proud to say that several of our hard-working speech team members qualified for advancement. Courtney Colwill, ajunior, is a second alternate in Creative Expression and Mitch Zaleski, asenior, is a second alternate in Humorous Interpretation. Junior Storytellers Kelsey Klein and Sammi Stewart-James placed second and sixth, respectively, and will advance in their category. Sophomore Kyle Messer had an exciting three-way unbreakable tie for second place in Serious Prose with Alex Theis and Scott Babbitt, both of Eden Valley-Watkins. The tie was broken by drawing numbers – Alex Theis drew second place, Kyle Messer drew third place, and Scott Babbitt drew fourth place. All three advance to the Section Tournament. St. Cloud Cathedral won the Central 5A SubSection Championship with Eden Valley-Watkins as runner-up, and Milaca taking third place. Kimball placed fifth in the subsection out of eight participating teams. Congratulations to the Kimball speech team members for a great season. Enjoy sleeping in this Saturday. Coach Jody Markgraf
