The Fair Grove Speech Team competed in the Bolivar Speech Tournament on December 8 and 9 for the last tournament of the semester.
Fair Grove High School’s Speech team had 16 students competing in this tournament. The speech team is run by our school’s speech and theater teacher, Leroy Barker. The team competed in 13 different categories including dramatic interpretation, duo interpretation, humorous interpretation, informative speaking, international extemporaneous speaking, Lincoln-Douglas debate, original oratory, poetry reading, program of oral interpretation, prose reading, radio speaking, storytelling, and united states extemporaneous speaking.
“Speech and Debate tournaments work similar to Track and Field. At one tournament there will be several events. Students may compete in multiple events but each tournament provides limitations such as only being able to enter three events or that a school may only have four total entries in an event,” said Barker, “Students typically have the events they prefer to enter and those they do not. When competing, students compete against five other competitors per round.”
Barker added, “Performances are judged on criteria specific to each event. Most criteria fit into general concepts of vocal quality, body movement, use of allotted time, appropriateness of the selected text, and how that text was written or edited to make the most impact.” The judges who watch the competitions are made up of community members who volunteer their time.
One of the speech members, Emma Pearson (11), competed in dramatic interpretation and original oratory. Pearson stated, “I chose dramatic interpretation because I wanted to expand myself as a performer, and original oratory because this is something I have always had fun with since my freshman year.” Furthermore Pearson explained, “I have prepared by memorizing, doing research, practicing my pieces, cutting them down to fit the time frame, working on my blocking, and my introductions to my pieces.”
Another student, Collin Shea (10) competed in humorous interpretation. Humorous interpretation is a eight to ten minute acting event with the goal to be funny. Shea said, “I chose this event because I am good at memorizing speeches and movements to go along with it, and I just like making people laugh. I have prepared by memorizing my piece, making movements for it, writing an intro for it, and by applying feedback from fellow speech members on how to improve it.”
“The Bolivar Tournament is considered to be indicative of the District Tournament. It will have over twenty schools competing with over 400 individual competitors,” said Barker. There are 16 students from Fair Grove competing in the events.
Barker added, “An individual’s performance at the Bolivar Tournament usually lets that student know what to expect when competing at the District Tournament.” According to Pearson, the Bolivar tournament is one of the most competitive and important events of the year. It shows the quality of the performances for the year.
Barker explained, “Our competitive tournament team has to do a tremendous amount of work to prepare for every tournament. If they didn’t look forward to competing, they wouldn’t stay on our team. The reward they receive for their hard work through trophies, admiration of their peers, and self satisfaction makes them look forward to every opportunity to prove their abilities.”
