Speech Kicks Off Season at Home Meet
By Emma Risinger
On Saturday, January 14, Pierce High’s speech team started off their season at their home meet, held at the high school, hosting 16 other schools.
Beginning with varsity medalists, Nikolas Harvey and Brielle Unseld placed fourth in duet acting, and Ciara Garcia placed fourth in entertainment speaking. In addition to her duet placing, Unseld also hacked third place in informative.
Having placed in both of the events she took to the team’s first meet, Unseld shared her feelings about her performance saying, “I felt good! It’s always fun to kick off the speech season at home and get a glimpse at our potential. I’m really excited to see how the team will grow this season and support each other.”
And the last of the varsity medalists was Zaylah Pfanstiel with a sixth place in POI, or program of oral interpretation, a new event in speech this year.
In the JV division, Mya Johnson received an exciting first place in serious prose, followed by Nickolas Efta in second place in extemporaneous speaking. In addition, Trayton Christiansen landed in third place in informative, Lillian Blank received fourth place in poetry, and Carl Vogt ended the day in fifth place in persuasive speaking.
Although the team as a whole did not place in the top three, that means there is lots of opportunity for improvement in the coming weeks. Head coach Miss Amy Fleer added to this sentiment remarking, "The first meet is always tough, as nerves are running high and every piece is still fresh. While I would have liked to do better as a team, I am proud of everyone for surviving their first meet, and truly see a lot of potential in the season.”
Up next for the PHS speech team will be the Boone Central meet, on Saturday, January 21, so with any luck, the team will be seeing even more finalists and a team placement then.
