Speech team leading a legacy

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City speech team has a bit of self-inflicted pressure to live up to.

The exact number is uncertain, but if the high school speech team is accepted to the 2018 All-State competition by the Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA), Charles City will have been present for more than 35 years in a row.

They’re off to a good start: this is the second year in a row the entire team will be competing at state competition, Feb. 3.

“It feels good, but it also puts that extra pressure on you to do really well,” junior Ruby Peterson noted on Thursday.

“It’s always there … I don’t want to be the class that doesn’t go!” senior Ryan Wolfe added.

Of course, judging in speech and drama is all subjective, coach Mike Lembke reminded students — and a high rating is no guarantee of an All-State invitation.

Each ensemble will go before three different judges, who assign a rating between 1-4 based on the performance. Students aim for three “1” ratings, Lembke said, and from there, judges can recommend an ensemble for an All-State performance or honorary mention on Feb. 16.

“It’s unbelievable. We’re coming from a heritage, we’re coming from a legend,” Lembke said, referring to former coach Linda Brant, who has been inducted in the IHSSA Hall of Fame.

Brant returned last year, her first year in retirement, to spend a day coaching speech students before the 2017 state contests. Lembke and Brenda Bailey began coaching together in the 2016-2017 school year; Lembke had previously coached with Brant.

Returning students this year credited Brant’s earlier coaching to their overall growth in speech and drama skills, but Wolfe said the team’s accomplishments also speak to the team itself.

“She has not come in this year and we have the same results, and I think that’s a testament to the skills that we’ve acquired over the last few years from her and from (Mike),” Wolfe said.

This year’s team is senior-heavy, with 11 out of 24 students in the 2018 class. Students are performing excerpts from “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Doll’s House” and “Inherit the Wind”; a Readers Theater event; a short film; and three improv groups at state contest.

The choral reading won’t be competing, but every student involved in the choral reading will be performing in other ensembles at state, Lembke said.

Lembke is looking forward to working with more newcomers in the upcoming years, he said.

“There are a lot of freshmen, or at least a lot of people who haven’t done anything with speech before. We go back to the very basics,” Lembke said. “It keeps you on your toes.”

The Charles City High School Drama and Speech department will have a free public performance in Charles City on Feb. 1, 7 p.m. in the North Grand Auditorium, before they continue on to state contest Feb. 3.

Updates on the team and performances can be found on the Facebook page, @CCHSdramaspeech.