AHS students excel at State Individual Speech Contest last weekend

March 15th, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Adel, Iowa) – The Atlantic High School Speech Team is very proud of their success at State Individual Contest held at ADM on Saturday, March 12th. High School/Middle School Spanish Instructor Co-Head Speech/Debate Coach Trisha Niceswanger reports Atlantic took 26 entries who performed in front of a panel of three judges. Performances covered a wide variety of categories from Acting to Musical Theatre, Poetry and After Dinner Speaking. A total of 19 of the entries received a Division I rating from the judges; 10 of those were a straight 1 rating, meaning all three judges awarded a I rating.

Coach Niceswanger said “I am so proud of our success! We have grown our program immensely this year with more entries than ever before. It is very promising to see the younger performers with lots of talent for the future as well as the senior leadership we have in upperclassmen. Being able to have an in-person contest again this year really felt great to let these kids compete and meet fellow performers.”

Brandon Baggett, Coach, said “These kids have put in the work and it paid off big time! I cannot say enough about the drive of our young talent and the upperclassmen leading by example. Since we are back to in-person competitions, the events have been so much fun this year and our team is learning so much by watching fellow competitors. As our numbers have grown again this year, the future is very bright for our speech program!”

What’s next: All-State Nominations were posted online the afternoon of Monday, March 14th. These students chosen are the best in the state in their categories. In order to receive this honor, at least two of the three judges must nominate the performer. These students will perform one last time on the UNI Campus at the All-State Festival held on Monday, March 28th. Students awaited the postings excitedly in Niceswanger’s room while repeatedly refreshing the web page.

Three students earned All-State honors this year from Atlantic.