The Blue Earth Area Speech Team has been revived after a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has already proven to be a powerhouse. Every student on the team made it to the finals at not one but two meets this season; first at Loyola, and second at the Scarlet Invitational at Mankato West. The team is pictured above with their medals and trophies. They are, left to right, Riley Kaiser, assistant coach Roman Sipe, Cahmeron Ridgley, coach Rebecca Madson, Payton Madson, Kelby Healey, and Jobi O’Rourke.

After taking a several-year break during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Earth Area Speech team is back and better than ever.

“I’ve been coaching Speech for 26 years, and it’s an amazing feeling to be working with a brand new group of students,” coach Rebecca Madson explains. “I’ve got a lot of experience working as a coach and a judge, so I’m very excited to rebuild the team again after taking a break. My assistant coach, Roman Sipe, is also an alumni of the team.”

In Speech, students have the choice to compete in one or multiple of 13 different categories, which are divided between Public Speaking (PS) and Oral Interpretation (OI). PS focuses on informational and argumentative speaking, containing the Discussion, Extemp. Speaking, Great Speeches, Informative Speaking, and Original Oratory categories. OI, on the other hand, focuses on creative interpretation of a text, and contains the categories of Poetry, Prose, Duo, Drama, Humor, Creative Expression, Extemp. Reading, and Storytelling.

“All of the kids on the team this year are competing in Oral Interpretation categories,” Madson remarks. “We’ve had kids who competed in the Public Speaking categories in previous years, and maybe we’ll have some again in the future, but for now all of the kids on the team are in OI.”

At a meet, students compete against others in their category across three rounds, being judged on specific aspects of their performance which vary by category. Students perform in a randomly determined order, and are given a specific time allotment (which varies by category) in which to perform their piece.

After the last student in a round performs, each student’s performance is scored, and the score totals from across all three rounds determine who moves on to the finals. Only students who make it to finals are eligible to place and win medals, but every student’s score contributes to the team’s overall score, for which the top three teams at a meet receive trophies.

“We’re all competing against each other, but it really doesn’t feel like it,” sophomore Jobi O’Rourke explains. “Speech is an incredibly welcoming and friendly community, and we’re all rooting for each other no matter who moves on to finals.”

Currently, the BEA Speech team consists of five students: eighth grader Kelby Healey (Creative Exp. and Prose), and sophomores Cahmeron Ridgley (Drama), Payton Madson (Creative Exp. and Drama), Riley Kaiser (Humor), and Jobi O’Rourke (Drama). The team is already four meets into their regular season, with one more regular meet to go before heading off to Sectionals and State competition in April.

“We’ve had an incredibly successful season thus far,” coach Madson shares. “Everyone on the team made it to finals at the Loyola meet, as well as at the Scarlet Invitational at Mankato West. It’s very exciting to have such a young team doing so well, because that means they’ll become strong leaders and mentors for the team in future years.”

When selecting a piece to perform for the season, students have a wide variety of options to choose from. Aside from vast libraries of performance pieces from previous years, some categories require students to compose their own original speech to perform. Still other categories, like Storytelling, require students to learn multiple pieces; three of which are selected at random before each round, and the student selects only one to perform.

“Coach Madson not only helped us all pick out our pieces, but also helped us figure out what categories we might be interested in competing in,” Ridgley comments. “There’s a lot of options to choose from; it’s just about finding a piece you connect with.”

“Payton and I both wrote our own pieces this year, since we’re both competing in Creative Expression,” Healey adds. “For me, my piece Medley was not only a way to express myself, but also a healing journey to help me find closure for a painful part of my past.”

While the BEA Speech team may be small this year, coach Madson has confidence that next year will bring many more opportunities for recruitment.

“We’re planning to start building our team a lot earlier next year,” coach Madson explains. “It’ll give our kids more time to select their pieces, as well as give them a head start on learning and memorizing their speeches.”

The members of the team also had some words of wisdom to share with their peers who are considering trying Speech next year.

“Speech is a great way to work on your public speaking skills,” Madson comments. “Every single round you’re performing in front of total strangers, so it’s a great way to work through stage fright and get used to being in front of an audience.”

“The great thing about being in Speech is that there’s always at least one person you can connect with,” Kaiser adds. “Everyone’s super supportive of one another, and it’s a very inclusive and diverse environment where you can meet all different types of people.”

Assistant coach Sipe also spoke to the community that he found within Speech, not just as a former Speech team member himself, but also as a coach.

“The community of peers you make and meet in Speech extends into adulthood as well,” Sipe explains. “It’s been really fun for me to see the other side of competition as a coach, and collaborate with so many talented people across a wide variety of disciplines.”