Washington High School’s 2022 speech season is nearing the end with eight Demons performing at the state individual event contest in Grinnell Saturday.

Those who advanced from the district contest on February 26th are freshmen Rita Du in acting and musical theater and Kyann Miller in acting; juniors Keegan R. Colby in acting and poetry, Molly Klinzman in storytelling and original oratory, Bailey Rees in musical theater, and Charlotte Windmill in review; and seniors Mathew Osborn in poetry and Quinn Wubbena in musical theater and storytelling. The students may be performing pieces from their favorite authors or productions, or pushing out of their comfort zone to share glimpses into their own lives and experiences such as Klinzman, “I never really do personal pieces and writing this speech was really, really hard for me. And so I decided that maybe this speech would give me some closure and also open up a new door and I think it has done exactly that. So something good has definitely come out of this challenge.”

Since the pandemic the Washington students have seen an evolution in the state individual contest from being outright canceled in 2020 to attending an event involving just them and Winfield-Mt. Union in 2021. Wubbena comments on this being his last contest, “I am getting a little sad for the end of speech. I wanted to do it freshman year but I kind of chickened out of it. So I did it sophomore year and that really got me into the whole speech group of nerds that we are. There’s so many other stories or speeches that I would want to do and different songs for musical theater that I just don’t have time for, so I’m excited to make this last one count.”

The students will be performing for the shot at a nomination to perform at the All-State Individual Event Festival. This will be the first festival held since 2019, happening on March 28th at the University of Northern Iowa. You can hear more from some of the Washington students headed to state on Friday’s Halcyon House Washington Page.