Using her voice: Aaliyah Albright caps career with two State Speech Tournament appearances

Going into this year’s Speech season, her final one, Eden Valley-Watkins senior Aaliyah Albright, the daughter of Malynda and Jeff Sinthaberg, knew what kind of speech she wanted to do: something related to sexual assault.

“I kind of wanted to be able to dig deeper into my interests,” Albright said.

Competing in the category of Great Speeches, she chose a Barack Obama speech that features human trafficking. She wanted to focus on the variation of ages and ethnicities which human trafficking impacts. She really looked to focus, though, on the impact this has on younger children.

This issue, specifically the sexual assault aspect of it, is one she knows very well. She has been a victim of sexual assault twice in her life – first in kindergarten, and a second time at age 15.

“I had to go to therapy for it and, when I was telling them about it, it almost felt like they didn’t believe me, because I was a kid, because I was so young,” Albright said. “Kids are playing make-believe all the time, but something like this, I don’t think I would be able to just, you know, pull out of nowhere.”

She was unsure at first about going with a Barack Obama speech for a second straight year, but her Speech coach, Jayna Ruprecht, was completely fine with it.

“Telling people that this happens and how we can help it … is definitely something I really wanted to shed light on it,” Albright said.

Doing this speech and connecting it to her personal experience took her to a familiar place – back for a second straight season to the Class A State Speech Tournament, this year held at Shakopee High School on April 25.

The intro and growth

Albright decided to join Speech in seventh grade after seeing a flier in the school hallway and thinking it was something she may be interested in.

“I took a second and thought to myself, and I’m like, ‘I talk all the time. I might as well, you know, put it to use.’”

She did just that, going with an acting category in her first season, something she realized didn’t fit her. After that, she pursued more public address-type speeches.

“I was hoping that I would be able to get into public address where I can just write my own speech, because I do better that way,” Albright said. “And since then, I just have always enjoyed writing my speeches, and working with just one speech and then perfecting it throughout the season.”

Ruprecht became Albright’s Speech coach when she made this transition, having coached her since the eighth grade. In that time, she has seen her grow much, especially in confidence.

“She was such a soft-spoken, quiet speaker …. We really had to work on coming out of our shell and projecting, and taking up space, I think, in the room,” Ruprecht said. “And watching her at State was remarkable. She was commanding and elegant and poised, and her speech was so well written and thoughtful and had a deep connection to her. And so, just the growth in both her writing and her performance has been incredible.”

What separates her today is her dedication and commitment, Ruprecht highlighted.

“Our first practice this year, she came with a completely written speech, the one she performed at State (this year),” Ruprecht said. “She’d been working on it over the summer and in the fall, which most of my competitors are not working on their speeches in the summer. So she’s just really dedicated and hungry, I think, for success and that has played to her advantage, for sure.”

Albright highlighted how her State tournament trip last season was an unexpected one – new to the Great Speeches category. She ended up earning third at sections and seventh at State in 2024, as a junior. It was an experience from which she looked to grow.

From it, she realized that she needed to have more of an impact connection in her speech, highlighting why an issue was important. During the first State tournament speech, she didn’t have a strong argument for that, she said.

“I think just having a personal touch in a speech helps a lot,” Albright said. “And then at the State level, they kind of look a lot at writing, just because you’ve been perfecting your acting for a while.”

Albright took the critiques she got at State her first time around, focusing on that impact factor. She also focused on organizing the speech, but not so much that it comes off as awkward to speak it.

State this season

Going into this year’s Section 5A Tournament at Annandale High School on April 12, Albright was not sure how it would go, having not earned the highest of scores at the sub-section level. As she did after her first State tournament trip, she focused on the judge’s critiques. This year, she had the same judge at the sub-section level as she did at the section level.

“I went in there speaking confident, speaking a little bit louder, just so she can really get those details that she might have missed, because it was kind of her critiques and her judgment that I was really focusing on,” Albright said. “And just going in there with a clean mind … acting as if this is her first time hearing it, and just giving my all into it.”

Advancing to the section finals, Albright knew what she was facing in terms of her fellow competitors, competing against these same individuals all season. It was a group that was also supportive of each other.

“We’re all so close that we all wanted to do well,” Albright said. “We all would congratulate each other no matter what.”

Needing to finish third to advance to State, she thought the worst she would finish was possibly fourth, but she was not expecting to hear what she heard: first place.

“I was happy to go back [to State], even if I went third place again at sections,” Albright said, “but I was very nervous in that final round that I would not be able to go to state again.”

Albright had much more confidence going into this year’s state tournament than the prior one, having been there before.

“I kind of know how it goes…. It kind of just felt like another meet to me, just because it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as last year, where everything was new. I didn’t know anything [then],” Albright said. “And I definitely had confidence going into that first round, just because my coaches and I, the night prior, we definitely worked on the very small little nit-picky details. And I was like, ‘Okay, I got this. I can do it. I can make it back to finals.’”

Albright came up just short of the finals this time around, calling it a little heartbreaking.

“I felt as though I had the passion and the energy,” she said, “to make it back into those finals.”

Despite the way it ended, coach Ruprecht couldn’t say enough about Albright and how she ended her Speech career. Ruprecht mentioned how she and her -fellow coach Cassy Lahr watched Albright’s first-round speech and were blown away by it. Ruprecht added how Albright could have easily taken the top spot in that round, but understands that’s not how it works out, that sometimes those breaks just don’t happen.

“She held her own at State and had an incredible performance,” Ruprecht said. “And there just was some tough competition, and it gets tough.”

Despite all of that, Ruprecht couldn’t be prouder.

“She just had really put a lot of work into editing this piece, critiquing this piece, finding the research to back it, and then being very thoughtful about her presentation and her timing and her delivery,” Ruprecht said. “And it was both beautifully written and very compelling when she gave that piece [at State].”

Reflecting on the journey

When reflecting on her speech journey, Albright was proud of how far she had come and how she learned to use her words, to get the best out of them.

“Throughout the years, I’ve always been told that I was ‘such a strong speaker. I’m such a strong writer.’ It’s just kind of that acting and the gestures and whatnot that I really struggled with, and then really showing my passion,” Albright said. “I know last year I really struggled with looking too tense, but … I wasn’t tense. It’s just I have very broad shoulders, so it looks like I’m tense, but I’m not; and just trying to figure out how to look looser.”

She also recognized the support she received along the way, including all her coaches, all those who took time out of their lives to give her pointers, and all the friends she made along the way.

“Former coach [José] Carreno, he obviously isn’t with us this year, but he still came and watched us at sub-sections and then sent me a text right before State,” Albright said. “And [I finished my speech career] just knowing that I have such a strong support system, from the Speech team, from people at school, my family, just knowing that I have support no matter how the meet goes.”

Speaking of support, coach Ruprecht loves Albright as a human and will miss her, getting emotional as she reflected on her journey. She also knows this isn’t the end of Albright using that voice of hers.

“I do think her personal connection [to her last speech] is powerful too,” Ruprecht said.
“And I know she is going to go on to help others and to use her voice, that strong voice that she’s really built through this program and her other activities to do that. So, [I’m] just proud of her.”

Future

A current Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) student, Albright has “basically” finished up her first year of college. She’s proud of this, knowing it’s allowing her to start her career much sooner.

Currently, she works at the St. Cloud Hospital in the oncology unit. After graduation, she plans to attend St. Cloud State University and go into the nursing program there. She plans to pursue a career as a pediatric sexual assault nurse.

“[I wanted] to bring light to something that isn’t ever going to go away, which is sad to say,” Albright said, “but there’s definitely things that we can do to help it reduce.”

She brought the issue to light during her speech, but now looks to continue to use that voice and her experiences to make an impact into her future.