MFL MarMac seniors receive all-state nominations for individual speech

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times

Anjela Waterman, Micah Decker and Hope McGlaughlin couldn’t ask for a better way to cap off their high school speech careers. After earning straight ones at the state individual speech contest at Starmont on March 10, the three MFL MarMac seniors have now received all-state nominations.

They’ll perform at the Iowa High School Speech Association All-State Speech Festival on Monday, March 26, on the University of Northern Iowa campus.

2018 marks the second year in a row Waterman has received the honor. She was nominated in both the poetry and after dinner speaking categories last year. This year, her after dinner speaking performance once again stood out to the judges.

Waterman described after dinner speaking as a five-minute original speech that conveys a message through humor.

“You use witty remarks and puns to inform or inspire about a subject,” she added.

Last year, Waterman’s performance focused on dessert and how it relates to different periods of a person’s life. Sticking with the food theme, she based this year’s event on coffee. The goal, she explained, was to show how life, rather than being like a box of chocolates, is more like a cup of coffee.

“Life isn’t always sweet,” she detailed. “Sometimes, it’s bitter and can burn you.”

Whereas the poetry selections she’s performed in the past are more serious, Waterman said she enjoys after dinner speaking because it’s more fun and upbeat. 

“The audience is more engaged,” she said.

Decker garnered recognition for his prose piece, which he said was also more humorous. 

“You have a paper in front of you, so you have to be way more emotive,” he explained. As a result, “many people choose to do sad pieces, because it’s easier to pull those emotions. I did something humorous because I wanted to be different, to stand out.”

His piece, written by Dave Berry, was entitled “Tips for Women,” and followed a man and woman at the start of their relationship. The woman, said Decker, is worrying and over-analyzing every situation, while the man remains focused on things like his vehicle, oblivious to what the woman is thinking or saying. The scenario isn’t new to Decker

“I’ve always done a story about how men and women don’t communicate well,” he said. “Sometimes women hide their meaning, and men don’t understand it.”

Decker admitted the all-state nomination was unexpected because the prose selection had been his “back up plan.” Students are allowed to compete in two different categories, so he also participated in solo musical theater, a more favored track. After that was unsuccessful, though, he stuck with prose. Down the stretch, devoting that extra attention to one event rather than two may have made the difference in receiving the all-state nomination, he said.

McGlaughlin participated in radio news. This was her first year in the category, after trying everything from literary program and solo improvisation to spontaneous speaking. Like Decker, she said the category grew on her.

“At first, I didn’t like it,” she shared, “but it ended up being a good first experience.”

In radio news, the participant prepares opening and closing remarks, as well as transitions, beforehand. Then, at the competition, they’re given a folder filled with potential news stories. In a half hour, they must weed through those, selecting international, national and state stories to incorporate into the performance. The event must also include a commercial.

McGlaughlin said her commercial, which was for an interior design company, was more humorous.

“You want to use a different voice,” she said, “so I worked on that a lot. I think that’s one of the things that got me to all-state.”

Aside from that aspect, as well as writing the transitions, opening and closing, McGlaughlin said there isn’t much else you can do to prepare ahead of time. She enjoyed that, though.

“It make its more fun, that you can’t rehearse,” she said.

All three students felt it was an honor to receive the all-state nominations, especially during their senior years.

“All of us have been working really hard,” said McGlaughlin, who added it’s particularly exciting because MFL MarMac is a smaller school. “Not a lot of other smaller schools do show choir, dance and speech, so it’s good to be on top in the arts.”

The three also marveled at how they progressed over the years.

“Looking back at my ratings, I went from an overall two to a one to all-state over the course of high school,” Decker said.

They attributed that to age, as well as growing confidence in their public speaking abilities. Decker recalled his freshman year, when he was scared to even rehearse, alone, in front of speech coach Angie Killian. 

“Now, it doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said. “I had a public speaking class last semester, and I was more prepared because of speech.”

“Speech, cheerleading, show choir—they’ve all helped me become the speaker I am,” McGlaughlin added. “I can speak up now and share my opinion without being scared. You learn you can stand on your own.”

Aside from improving her communication skills, Waterman said speech has also provided lessons in teamwork and taking constructive criticism.

Killian, who coaches speech with Diane Fisk, said she’s proud of all her students and how far they’ve come. But it goes beyond the contests, the ratings and the all-state nominations.

“It’s having the confidence to speak to a group of people, to organize your thoughts and speak convincingly,” she said. “My overall goal is to have students enhance their lifelong communication skills.”

Waterman, Decker and McGlaughlin encouraged other students to participate in speech, precisely for those reasons.

“Public speaking is such an important thing,” Waterman said. “If you’re given the opportunity to do public speaking in high school, give it a try, so, when you’re out of high school, it will be easier.”

With 14 categories, there’s something for everyone, not just the “arts” kids, Waterman said. No special skills are necessary, added McGlaughlin.

Decker said Killian is especially helpful at steering students toward events they will excel in.

“I work with their strengths. Some are better at memorizing, some are better at reading from a script and some are better with pre-recorded events,” Killian said. “But I also want them to experiment outside their comfort zones. The kids have responded to that.”

Decker said high school is the time to try new things.

“Just because you think you won’t like, doesn’t mean you won’t like it,” he stressed. “I’d rather find out now than regret later that I wasn’t a part of it.”