Kimball Area High School speech students are warming up to a great season, despite the frigid temperatures. Tuesday, Jan. 30, the team traveled to Annandale’s Annual Round Robin Tournament. Once again, veteran speech students mentored rookies through their first competition. Students earn either “As” or Bs” and are awarded ribbons based on the number of “As” they receive. Receiving white ribbons (1 A) were: Julia Messer, 8th-grade, Extemporaneous Reading, and Kate Hoff, 9th-grade, Serious Drama. Sophomore Ryan Stein earned a yellow ribbon (2 As) in Creative Expression, and category-mate Courtney Colwill – receiving A’s in all three rounds – was a green ribbon and named “Best at Site” for the evening. Also competing were Chelsie Colwill (9th-grade), Nate Harter (10th-grade), and Victor Hewitt (12th-grade). Saturday, Feb. 2, the team traveled to Sauk Rapids-Rice through sub-zero temperatures and met with a lot of the competition they’ll see in coming weeks. Most of our veterans competed for the first time Saturday and several came away with recognition. At SR-R, medals are awarded for first-third places and a pair of Valentine’s Day socks for fourth place, which creates a lot of interest in fourth place. Storyteller Sammi Stewart-James claimed a pair of socks for her very own, while fellow Storyteller Kelsey Klein took an Honorable Mention. The following students also received Honorable Mentions in their categories: Abby Zoller, Serious Prose (9th-grade); Ashley Kalkbrenner, Serious Drama (10th-grade); and Ryan Stein, Creative Expression (10th-grade). With 16 students competing, Kimball placed third in the Medium Team category, just three points behind Eden-Valley Watkins. But the best memory of the day was had when Maple Lake was awarded the Small Team first Place trophy and watching coach Eric Meyer jump up and yell “Holy Crap!” Congratulations to all the students and teams competing. Next week, Kimball will travel to the Upsala-Swanville Area. The bus leaves at a very early 6:20 a.m.
