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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic High School speech team had not talked its way into a top-three finish at a District meet in more than 15 years - until this season.
Cedar Catholic placed third as a team at the District C2-3 speech contest on March 11 at Hartington-Ne wcastle and has four State -qualifying entries this year.
The top three finishers in each event qualified for the 2024 Nebraska School Activities Association State Speech Championships for Classes Cl and C2 on March 21 at Kearney High School.
Cedar Catholic senior Elizabeth Rokusek placed first in Program of Oral Interpretation, second in Poetry and fourth in Humorous Prose at this year’s District meet. She has qualified for the State meet her sophomore, junior and senior years.
“It’s really exciting andrewarding to qualify,” Rokusek said. “A lot of time has been put into this activity, so it’s extremely gratifying to go to State. Of course, it’s very nerve-wracking as well, especially since it’s my senior year.”
Cedar Catholic junior Ben Kleinschmit placed second in Extemporaneous Speaking at this year’s District contest.
He described himself as “more excited than nervous,” as this is the first time he has ever qualified for the State meet.
“It feels great to finally qualify for State speech,” Kleinschmit said. “I finally made it to State after medaling my sophomore and freshman years - fourth and sixth at Districts - to finally cracking the top three with District runner-up to punch my ticket to State speech.”
Cedar Catholic sophomore Ava Stewart placed first in Informative Speaking at this year’s District contest.
“Qualifying for State and winning my District is truly rewarding,” Stewart said. “It is satisfying to know that my hard work over the past few months has paid off, and I am excited to see how I do in Kearney.”
This is the first time she has ever qualified for the State meet. “As a sophomore, I have only been participating in speech for two years,” Stewart said. “Last year, I was one place away from qualifying, and I am pleased I could turn it around this year. I am excited to see what I can do in Kearney.”
Rokusek described her process for speech practices.
“I typically practice with the coaches,” Rokusek said. “I work on memorization and putting my pieces together on my own. Honestly, a lot of the experimentation and changes to my programs happen during performances.”
She explained what each of her State-qualifying pieces are about.
“My Poetry is about perfectionism,' Rokusek said. “I chose this because I’ve always struggled with it, and I like to do deeper topics that I can relate to. My POI is entitled ‘Psychosis Stigma.’ I really dislike prejudice and I’ve always been interested in psychology, so the topic fit my personality well.'
For Extemporaneous Speaking, Kleinschmit noted he does not practice in a way that people would practice for most events, such as presenting a speech to coaches.
“I do not know what topic I will be speaking about, although I do pay attention to the news and read articles in my free time on my phone or laptop for not just staying in touch at least a little bit with international or domestic news, but also for fun, to read about what is happening in the world.
“For my (Extemporaneous) Speaking, I do not know what topic I will be talking about because all of it is a (random) draw during competition,” he said. “For example, the topic I chose out of three I pulled during my District final was ‘How Concerned Should the West Be of Recent Russian Nuclear War Threats?’ or something along that range of topic.”
Because she lives out of town, it often works best for Stewart to practice her speech pieces at home.
“However, I practice a few times a week with our coaches, and my success wouldn’t be possible without the both of them, ” Stewart said. “Although I was additionally working on two events, I decided to just focus on my Informative, titled, ‘Deja Vu.’ I chose this topicbecause it is extremely relatable, and is something that everyone has background knowledge on.”
I11 Rokusek’s opinion, Cedar Catholic’s speech team “has done really, really well this year.”
“Oh, there’s totally improvement since the beginning,” Rokusek said. “Every bit of advice from coaches - or other supporters - makes the programs better. There’s always more to improve on. The programs could always always get better.
“Everyone has medaled and our small team places pretty well even though we only have a fraction of other teams,' she said. “I’m really proud of our District placing. I’m really happy to be a part of this team.”
Rokusek expressed her gratitude to her speech coaches.
“They spend a lot of time helping us practice and going to meets with us,” Rokusek said.
Kleinschmit described this speech season as “a major success” for himself because he has medaled with either his Serious Prose and Extemporaneous Speaking pieces or both at each meet this year.
“I feel I have improved majorly on all aspects of my speeches, especiallymy Extemporaneous Speaking by analyzing the questions more throughly,” Kleinschmit said.
He noted Cedar Catholic’s third-place finish as a six-member speech team at this year’s
District meet was impressive, as the squad only ended up 14 points behind runner-up Ponca.
“This speech season for my team as a whole has been a major success, with everyone medaling atleast once,” Kleinschmit said. “I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to compete at the State tournament. None of this couldhavebeen possible without my coaches, teammates and God giving me the skills to have major success in public speaking.”
Considering she is only a sophomore, Stewart noted she feels that she has done fairly well this speech season.
“Besides the first meet, I have placed in the top three at every meet, winning three as well as the District competition,” Stewart said. “I have definitely improved throughout the season, and hope to carry on my success to the State meet this week.”
She noted Cedar Catholic has had a successful season despite the size of its speech team.
“Although we might be small, we are mighty,” Stewart said. “Every one of us has cut a final this season, with only one of us not in finals at Districts, where we placed third against teams of 20 or more participants. I am proud of our team, and thank both of my coaches for the time and dedication to each and every one of us.”
Medalists for Cedar Catholic at this year’s District meet were: - Informative Speaking: Sophomore Ava Stewart, first; sophomore Breah Steffen, fourth.
- Program of Oral Interpretation: Senior Elizabeth Rokusek, first.
- Extemporaneous Speaking: Junior Ben Kleinschmit, second; senior Madison Kuchta, fifth.
- Poetry: Senior Elizabeth Rokusek, second; senior Madison Kuchta, seventh.
- Humorous Prose: Senior Elizabeth Rokusek, fourth.
