On Saturday, Feb. 21, the New York Mills speech team competed at the Staples-Motley 49th annual Host Lions meet. 

Senior Payton Lausten broke through to the final round (top six) and earned first place in Prose Interpretation. 

Senior (and first-year speech competitor) Brienna Honer broke to the next-in final round (top 12) and placed fifth in Extemporaneous Reading. In this event, Honer draws a random excerpt and has 30 minutes to craft a written introduction and practice reading the selection for performance. This year’s prose excerpts are taken from Dan Gemeinhart’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, which follows a young girl traveling across the country with her father.

Earlier in the week, the junior high speech team (grades 7–9) competed at the Perham Junior Jacket Invitational, an event exclusively for middle school competitors. The team earned fifth place in overall team sweepstakes. 

Ana Stout earned first place in Prose interpretation with a cutting from the novel I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. 

Brigid Stout earned first place in Informative Speaking with a speech she wrote about the Radium Girls.

Izzy Felix placed third in Informative Speaking with a speech she wrote about the sport of barrel racing

Marrissa Uselman placed third in Original Oratory with a speech she wrote about the dangers of single-use plastics. Uselman also placed fourth in Extemporaneous Reading.

Annabelle Spect placed second in Original Oratory with a speech she wrote about poetry’s relevance in the 21st century. 

Megan Harder placed fourth in Original Oratory with a speech she wrote about high rates of mental health disorder among teenagers. 

Wolfgang Kawlewski earned a Superior rating in Humorous Interpretation with his interpretation of the Seinfeld episode “The Summer of George.”

Adison Campana earned a Superior rating in Discussion. Campana works in a group of up to eight contestants to solve a task or produce an agreed-upon outcome—often a shared statement of policy, rationale, or list. This year’s discussion tasks focus on finding community in a fragmented and divided society.