All-State Speech!

All-State Speech! from Chad Bruns on Vimeo.

Chris Schaben recently performed his prose piece "One Degree of Separation" at the Individidual All-State Festival at UNI on March 29th. Watch this video to see what All-State Speech is and how Chris made it this far. At the end of the video, you can even see him perform his piece!

Yes, Harlan Has a Speech Team!! by Chris Schaben

On Saturday, February 20th, I had the privilege of attending the IHSSA All-State Festival. Now, I know that you have no idea what I’m talking about, so let me explain. IHSSA stands for Iowa High School Speech Association. Every year in the months of January – March, students prepare their speech material and perform at contests.

Now, don’t assume that speech contest is a boring festival where students give long, boring speeches. It’s not like that at all! Speech students can perform in a variety of categories such as acting, improvisation, musical theater, mime, storytelling, prose, broadcasting, and more! There are two kinds of speech contests you can participate in: Large Group and Individual. In Large Group, you perform with another person or a group of people. In individual, you perform by yourself. At these contests, you perform in front of a judge or judges and receive a I, II, III, or IV rating (with “I” being the best.)

Ellen Klitgaard and I performed in ensemble acting this year for Large Group contests. Our piece was called “Open to Interpretation,” and it featured us performing “Hansel and Gretel” in various styles including murder mystery, Shakespeare, Vaudeville, British comedy, and soap opera. We got a “I” rating at districts, so we got to move onto state. At state there were three judges. We received two I’s and one II from the judges there. But the biggest surprise came when we found out that two of those judges nominated us for All-State! We were non-performers at the All-State festival, but I went to accept medals for our achievement and to watch other great performances.

With Large Group being over, it is now time for our Individual Speech contests. I am performing improv and prose for these contests. Districts were held in Logan on February 27. All of our Harlan participants did an awesome job, and many of us are moving onto state! Here are the results (with participant name, speech category, and rating):

Chris Schaben – Improv – I
Danielle Hernandez – Poetry – I
Trey Nielsen – Poetry – I
Kelsey McDaniel – Lit Program – I
Allison Hanson – Prose – I
Allisha Anderson – Storytelling – II
Becka Rodgers – Prose – II
Danielle Hernandez – After Dinner Speech – I
Katy Todd – Storytelling – II
Chris Schaben – Prose – I
Kelsey McDaniel – Storytelling – I
Justice Gessert – Poetry – I
Allison Hanson – Musical Theater – I
Hannah Early – Acting – II

So, all of you Harlan people should support the speech participants and maybe come to a contest some time! Did you even know we have a speech team? And now that you do, would you like to see us perform some time? Leave a comment! If you want to learn more about IHSSA, visit the IHSSA website.

Before I sign off, I would like to say congratulations to all those participants at district individual speech and good luck at state! Who knows? Maybe we’ll have an individual speech All-Stater this year!

Speech Follow-Up (It's Kind Of Like A Stalker)

What comes after a super awesome speech video? An even more super awesome speech written story, of course! See, speech stories are kind of like the stalkers of speech videos. And I, Danielle Hernandez, will be bringing you the first installment of this stalking extravaganza.

Several weeks ago, Kelsey and I did a video covering the aspects and results of the Districts for Large Group Speech at Clarinda. In case you didn't watch it (or just don't seem to remember) here are some of the highlights: Speech kids are insanely loud and admittedly obnoxious, six students from Harlan participated, and the ensemble acting force of Chris Schaben and Ellen Klitgaard advanced to State. Way to go, team!

At State competition in Ankeny on February 6th, Ellen and Chris once again performed their piece "Open to Interpretation" and receive two "1's" and one "2". Speech has a scoring system much like Band and Vocal competitions. A 'one' is the best score you can get, ranging down to a 'four' (which is disqualified). To advance to the All-State festival, students must receive a recommendation from two of the three judges. Which the two representatives from Harlan just happened to receive!Ellen and Chris were nominated for non-performing awards at The All-State Festival held on February 20th at The Iowa State Center in Ames. An All-State nomination is the highest honor there is in the Speech world. We should all be very proud of them, and I, for one, totally am. That, and I must say, they both look stylin' in their new All-State t-shirts purchased at the competition.

Well, with All-State over, Large Group is in the past. So now, it's time to look at the present. Neigh, look towards the future! This Saturday, the Districts for Individual Speech will be held at Logan-Magnolia High School. For the first since I can remember, contest is less than an hour away, people. Do you know what that means? You should all come out and support. Because not only will our acts be heart-wrenching, hilarious, and/or musical, they won't drain your gas tank to come and see.

So, while you're planning your wicked road trip to Lo-Ma, I'm thinking you should probably know what you have to look forward to. Your fellow Harlan Cyclones will be performing in such events as... Improvisational Acting, where he or she will draw characters and situations from a hat, and typically it's quite hilarious... Storytelling, in which he or she will tell a story to the audience, while treating them like they are small children, also typically quite hilarious... Prose, in which he or she will read sections of a book or other published material... After-Dinner, Poetry, Solo-Musical Theatre, and so much more! Us speech kids are down on our knees, begging you, come support us in entertaining you!

So, there you have it, one spiffy little speech follow-up (or stalker, depending on who you're talking to...). Expect yet another follow up somewhere in the very near future with results on Districts, State, and hopefully All-STATE! for the Individual division. This has been Danielle Hernandez, reporting live from my computer desk in my pajamas, for School News. Please let me know, do you plan on attending Speech districts since they are so close this year? What do you think of Speech as a whole? Comments are always welcome :)

Conquest: Large Group Speech Districts

HCHS Speech Contest from Chad Bruns on Vimeo.

"Con-on-quest! They were out to make a conquest, they had some super fun, and they won, the pri-ize! Ah ah ah!" ... Well, large group districts speech ended pretty darn well. Learn all about the epic, thrilling adventures of speech kids.

Improv Emerging by Chris Schaben

I, Chris Schaben, am pleased to announce some very exciting news to all you students that are interested in performing, having fun, and working for a good cause – all at the same time! A new club will soon, hopefully, be added to HCHS, and it’s going to be called Improv to Improve. It’s okay to laugh at the cheesy name. I, myself, laughed when I thought of the name, but it is a very appropriate name for this new club. Let me tell you why.

Improv to Improve will be an improvisational theatre club in which we will be doing several improv games and warm-ups. Aren’t sure what improvisational theatre is? Wikipedia describes it as a form of theatre in which the actors use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. If are familiar with the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway,” you will be happy to know that the improve club will be holding public performances that will have a similar format to an episode of the show and will probably be around one and a half to two hours. But I haven’t even told you about the greatest benefit of this club!



I decided to name this club Improv to Improve, because at each public performance we will be collecting a free-will offering for a charity. By doing this, I am hoping that this club will help raise public awareness about the greatness of improvisational theatre and also raise funds for a good cause, which gives me twice as much motivation to make sure this club succeeds and continues for several years.

Mrs. Daniels, who coaches the speech contest participants every year, will be the sponsor for the improv club. “I already do speech contests, so it made sense to help with the improv club since I already have experience in it,” she said. “I think it’s a good idea, because it will allow for more exposure to speech in general and give students another avenue to be more creative.”

Improv to Improve is currently set to begin after the musical is over in November the first meeting will be announced will be announce around then. Don’t worry if you don’t have any experience in improvising. The point of the club is mainly to have fun and help raise money for a good cause. Anyone is welcome to join! If you have any questions at all, or if you’re a student that is interested in participating in this club, please comment below this post. I look forward to our first meeting and starting a successful team of improvisers. Thank you!

Preview For The Speech Season

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Harlan has a history of excellence. Period. One of the areas that Harlan has succeeded at for years is Speech. However, not much is known about this mysterious program. So I, Danielle2, decided to once again take up the trusty notepad and pencil, find the truth, and cut to the chase of Speech. And now, may I present to you… a preview of the Speech season.

So, first of all, what is speech? And why is it around? To answer this hard-hitting question, there was only one place to go: The IHSSA (Iowa High School Speech Association) Official Website. To quote the website, “The philosophy is built upon the belief that no form of activity is any more important than that of learning to speak effectively. All true Americans believe in educational enlightenment, but the effectiveness of each enlightenment may be lost through the inability of our people to express to others their ideas and beliefs. The perpetuation of the American way of life rests to no small extent in the hands of the American school. If it can teach it's students to express and defend that democracy, we need have no fear for the future of our country.” To summarize, it’s basically saying that there is no point in educating students if they don’t know how to express their thoughts. To solve said problem, the Iowa Interscholastic Speech Association was organized in November, 1943.

Alright, that answered that. So, what different things do the members of Speech do?
Mrs. Daniels had an answer for me. There is Large group speech, individual speech, public forum/Lincoln-Douglas debate, and student congress. Students must practice with Mrs. Daniels or Mrs. Hagemeier before contests. We also prepare by performing at The Night of Stars in January. It is a chance for the community to see the performers and the performers a chance to practice.There are many categories within large group (One Act Play, Readers Theatre, Choral Reading, Ensemble Acting, Group Mime, Solo Mime, Television News, Group Improvisation, and Musical Theatre) and individual speech (Public Address, Acting, Interpretive Poetry, Interpretive Prose, Literary Program, Original Oratory, Spontaneous Speaking, Radio News, Expository Address, Storytelling, Improvisation, Reviewing, and After Dinner).

As I was debating whether or not to do this for the Newsblog, and as I was, I wondered whether there were any awards hiding around the school. So I checked every single one of the trophy cases, but nothing turned up. But as I was leaving the high school, wouldn’t you know it? I’d walked by them a million times and had never really seen them before. They are in the hallway of the school, right past the first auditorium doors, across the hall from the offices of Mr. Angel and Mrs. Rasmussen. There are pictures of them in the slideshow above. Of course there are quite a few of them, let’s face it, we’ve got quite gifted speakers in Harlan.

Okay then! Now about these competitions that the trophies are from! There are several different stages. Below are this year’s dates!

JANUARY 4 & 5, 2008- STATE DEBATE TOURNAMENT
DMACC, ANKENY

JANUARY 19, 2008 - DISTRICT LARGE GROUP CONTEST

FEBRUARY 2, 2008 - STATE LARGE GROUP CONTEST

FEBRUARY 16, 2008 - ALL-STATE FESTIVAL LARGE GROUP EVENTS
IOWA STATE CENTER, AMES

FEBRUARY 23, 2008 - DISTRICT INDIVIDUAL EVENTS CONTEST


MARCH 8, 2008 - STATE INDIVIDUAL EVENTS CONTEST


MARCH 31, 2008 - ALL-STATE FESTIVAL INDIVIDUAL EVENTS,
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA, CEDAR FALLS

‘So, who coaches this fabulous program?’ was of course a question I am sure was on your mind. I know I was thinking it! Why, it’s none other than Mrs. Randi Daniels, and she is a very busy lady! The schedules for practices are right outside your door, check them out yourself, it’s amazing how she fits everything in. She’s doing such a wonderful job getting everything organized and started. So of course I wanted to know how much longer she wanted to continue doing so, and how much experience she had.
Danielle2: How many years have you coached Speech?
Mrs. Daniels: 11 years
Danielle2: How many more are you hoping to coach?
Mrs. Daniels: I suppose you never know . . . as many as my mind and body will let me. . .

And we hope her mind and body will let her do so for a very many more years!

After all these questions had been answered, a rare event occurred. I couldn’t think of any more. That’s right. My curious mind was content, and my Newsblog story was complete. So, I hope you enjoyed it, because I know I had fun researching and interviewing the person running a program I’m involved in! Be sure to visit http://www.ihssa.org/, there is plenty of handy information! This has been Danielle2, for HCHS Newsblog, signing off.

Individual Speech District Contest

I had the privilege of going to the individual speech contest yesterday. Although I could not video tape during performances, I was able to listen to some extremely well performed speeches. I also had the chance to get an interview with a few of the participants.

-Victoria