Last year, the Highland individual speech team broke the school record for the most performances advancing to state competition with seven. That was with nine members. This year’s individual team featured six members, including two new faces, that all had their sights on setting a new school record. 

The Huskies, along with twenty-nine other schools, were present at Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon for district individual speech competition on Saturday, Feb. 25. Highland started their day early with senior Brendan Schnoebelen behind the microphone in the Radio News Announcing category. Performing under the call numbers KNOW, the senior read international, national, state, and sports stories along with a commercial script and weather report in a four-to-five minute time period. A “flash news” story was presented by a room chair during the performance, and Schnoebelen incorporated it in the allotted four-to-five minute newscast as well.

Junior Allyana Pokorny performed early in the morning for Highland in the Expository Address category. She presented to a judge on the Slovakian Kroj, a traditional Czech outfit. Later in the morning, Pokorny read a series of poems from the Holocaust called “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” in the Poetry category.

Also performing in the Poetry category was junior Taylor Forbes. She performed an original poem titled “Fire Fighters.” Forbes’s second event came in the Solo Musical Theater category. Forbes performed “Home” from the musical Beetlejuice. 

Two more Huskies participated in the Solo Musical Theater category. Freshman Greta Piette performed “Watch What Happens” from the musical Newsies, and her sister, junior Gwen Piette performed “Quiet” from Matilda the Musical. The junior also participated in the Storytelling category reading “Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake,” a children’s book. Younger sister Greta also participated in the Acting category performing “Rather Be a Man.” 

Junior Rayne Foley participated in the Acting and After Dinner Speaking categories. Foley performed “Please Don’t Marry Me” in Acting, and “Organization of Introverts Against Public Speaking” in After Dinner Speaking. 

Highland was led on the day by Greta Piette and Rayne Foley. Each received a rating of I in their events and qualified for state competition. Other state qualifiers for the Huskies include Brendan Schnoebelen in Radio News Announcing, Allyana Pokorny in the Expository Address category, and Gwen Piette in the Storytelling category. Receiving II’s in their events were Allyana Pokorny for Poetry, Taylor Forbes for Poetry and Solo Musical Theater, and Gwen Piette for Solo Musical Theater. 

Junior Allyana Pokorny, in reaction to making it to state, said, “I was very surprised, but in a good way. I feel like it was an honor to make it [to state].”

  Out of the eleven total performances Highland had at Mount Vernon, seven advanced to the state competition, tying the school record. 

When asked about the record, and if she was confident it could be broken again this year, Head Coach Jayme Kallaus said, “A hundred percent. I had many [students] returning and I had a few new ones. I knew from practice, there was no doubt in my mind.”

Many things make a team special. When asked what makes this year’s speech team special, Kallaus said, “Their creativity and ability to take feedback to decide whether to implement that or not and come up with a better product, a better performance, is definitely a skill that’s unexpected, but very much valued.”

The five students that qualified for state will converge on North Scott High School in Eldridge on Saturday, March 11 in hopes of achieving the highest honor: All-State selection. Last season, Brendan Schnoebelen was the lone Huskie to qualify for individual All-State, but hopes are high for more than one this year.