Students involved in Speech and Debate had the opportunity to travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming on March 9-11 to compete at the official speech and debate state event.

Coaches Julie Lewis and Katie Roberts coached their speech members through a tough season and led them through some rough state competition. These speech members worked hard to improve their skills in preparation for the biggest and most important event of their season, state.

At this culimating event, seniors Alexis Perry and Amalie Scherbel qualified for the Nationals speech competition in Phoenix, AZ this summer, and senior Gabe Daniel—as well as junior Anna Altobell and Cokeville’sEvan Dietz—talked their way into the state semis. “Even though I didn’t place, I was happy with my effort, and I think that is all that counts,” said Daniel.

With two students qualifying for Nationals and three advancing into the semis, the team represented all the way to the end.

The coaches took almost their entire team to the their state event feeling that the trip would bring the team together and give them valuable experience for next season.”Instead of having only the most qualified people go, because there is a limited amount of spots for people going state, we decided to prioritize team spirit and the closeness of the team,” said senior Alexis Perry.

“Despite not making as many wins as we wanted to, I definitely think it was the right decision of the coaches to bring everybody to state this year,” said Perry.

“A lot of fine tuning” is how Daniel explained the time the team spent preparing for the final tournament in Cheyenne. “State this year was a pretty awesome experience for me and the team,” he said.

Talking about speech and her team, Coach Lewis said, “This is really an individual endeavor. Each student has to plan and prepare and write and research and present on their own. It is hard work.”

Although the team didn’t take home any awards from state, everyone still enjoyed and loved the bonding experience. “Every member of the speech team comes aways with something that is intangible. Many bring home medals and trophies from every tournament, but all of them come away from Speech and Debate with strong friendships, even with others around the state,” said Lewis.

The team is excited to cheer on those that made it nationals, and they can’t wait for the next speech and debate season when they can bond with new members of the team try and to improve on their performance at the state tournament.