Pierce Sends Two Students to State Speech
By Alanna McKeown
The Pierce High speech team took two students to the NSAA state speech meet, held at Kearney High School on Wednesday, March 21.
Each competitor has three preliminary rounds with five other competitors in each round. Judges gave competitors a rank out of everyone in the round along with a score with a maximum of 50. After the preliminary rounds, the top six placings are taken to a fourth and final round.
Head coach Amy Nelson says, “I believe the girls gave some of their best performances at state speech, their passion for their topics was evident and they performed with confidence. State speech is obviously the best of the best competition, and we go against many schools who bring the majority of their team down to state. It's truly such an honor to even make it to the state tournament, and I'm proud of the girls. Amelia finished 16th overall in informative (speaking) and Emma finished 15th overall in persuasive (speaking). We had a great season, and I am looking forward to many members returning next year.”
In informative Amelia Ahlers acquired fifth place in both her first and second round and then received sixth in her third round to come to a rank of 16.
Emma Risinger took her persuasive speech to state this year. Risinger gained third rank in her first round, sixth rank in her second round, and fifth rank in her third round, to acquire a total rank of 14.
Risinger says, “State is always a great experience. It was a great day of competition, and I feel like it went fairly well. I was grateful for the opportunity to both present my own piece and watch other performances.”
This meet concluded the Pierce High speech team’s season.
