State speech meet set for April 25-26 in Shakopee

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The New York Mills High School Speech team recently competed at the Section 6A ournament in Menagha. While many students competed and placed, three NY Mills High School students placed in the top three in their category, qualifying for the state competition. The last time three NY Mills speech students qualified for state was in 2016. Two of those competitors, Leah Roberts and Jackson Veazie, are coaches for the current speech team.

Qualifiers include senior, Brooke Sonsalla, who placed second in discussion; junior Payton Lausten, who placed second in prose; and Elijah Geiser, who placed second in poetry. All three qualifying students will be continuing on to the MSHSL State Tournament hosted by the Shakopee High School on April 25-26. All three students are competing for their second year in speech.

An honorable mention includes senior Soren Stout who advanced to the final round of Discussion and secured sixth place. 

“It felt very good,” said Sonsalla of qualifying. “I was very excited when I knew I made it to the final round, the top six. The I changed my mindset, and was like, ‘okay, you can do this.’ I think from last year, sections didn’t go super well, so I wasn’t very confident, but when I made it to that point, I changed my mindset. ‘You can do this, you can beat all of them.’

“I was pretty sure of the place I got, it was a surprise for the day, but it wasn’t a surprise in the moment,” she continued. “I’m very excited for it, it’s extremely exciting to qualify, especially all three of us. A lot of work and I feel like it’s finally paying off now.”

Lausten agreed with Sonsalla with the day’s results. Like her teammates, she was unsure of what the judges would ultimately decide but was hoping for the best.

“It was exhilarating and there’s so much talent in the final round,” said Lausten. “So in my head I was kind of thinking, I know what place I feel I deserve, but it’s kind of a toss up because you never know what the judges are going to think, so I just stood there and thanked God because that moment was so joyful.”

“I never like to think about how my rounds go for some reason,” said Geiser of his qualifying round. “It just bugs me, so I never know what to expect going into the awards.  I always hope that I can do it, but after subsections, it felt like, ‘okay, maybe I’m not going to be able to,’ because I got fourth at subsections. Then at sections, waiting for the final posters to come up, I was really nervous.

“If I didn’t make it to finals, I was going to be really sad,” he continued. “But during the final round, I just had to beat three people and then I could make it and making it to state was just so awesome.”

While all three students were unsure of speech two years ago, they have found their place amongst the team and also have discovered the benefits of developing their speaking skills as well as finding a platform for their own voice.

“I never really knew how to be in speech because I was always in wrestling,” said Geiser. “But Mrs. R-V pushed it to us and she advertised it a lot as something I could do. Last year I did it along with wrestling, this year I focused more on speech because I thought that’s where I’ll have success.

“I was always told ‘hard work will take you places, if you just work hard, you’ll get what you want,’” he continued. “But you also have to want it, you have to really want it. When I was in wrestling, they always would say ‘if you work hard, you could be really good,’ but I never really had the heart for it. In speech, I have the drive, I want to do it and I want to do it well.”

All three students are eager to experience the state competition and listen, learn and share with numerous other students from across the state who will be competing with.

“I think it will be a great experience,” said Sonsalla. “It will be my last meet since I’m a senior, so I think it will be a good way to kind of end it. I’m looking forward to hopefully placing, but just having a good experience and bonding with my team will be fun.”

“Hopefully I do well and hopefully final,” said Geiser. “Like I said, I don’t like to think about it. What I told myself at sections is that if I don’t make it, it’s okay, because my speech is important for people to hear. So at state, I think that’s how my mindset is going to go.”

“I’m excited to see all of the talent and I’m excited to learn from them,” said Lausten, “because, given this is only my second year, I think I too have a lot to learn from state competitors and I’m really hoping to place, because I think I have the potential to final. So I’m very hopeful and excited. Plus I’m looking forward to bonding, because Brooke and Elijah are like my best friends, we’re going to have so much fun.”

All students learn lessons along the way, but between these three friends, they have picked up a lot of life skills from their past two years in speech. Among those lessons include using their platforms for good.

“It’s given me a lot of courage to authentically be myself,” said Lausten. “You see so many different people in speech and hear so many stories, I think I’ve gained a lot of bravery in speech.”

“You learn to be a good listener, and patience,” said Geiser. “You sit there for an hour and a half listening to five other people give their speeches. It gives you lots of patience.”

“I think one thing is that God uses everything for His glory,” said Sonsalla. “I realized in all three of us how we’ve used speech as a platform for that. It’s given me a lot of confidence speaking in front of people to the point where I stand up and preach for congregations of 200 people. I’ve seen a change in Payton where she’s always praying and wishing people, ‘God bless you,’ and Elijah’s speech is about his faith, which I think is so amazing.

“Humble confidence is mind over matter,” she continued. “You fake being confidence in your situation until you actually are confident in your life. I always felt like I didn’t have the confidence to do things, but you fake it ’til you make it and then you all the sudden become that person.”

“We’re all capable of a lot of things,” she continued. “But why would you’ll never find out you’re good at it if you never try. I think it’s really cool how God has used us in this activity.”