TROY STUDENTS COMPETE AT STATE SPEECH FESTIVAL
by Sheila Marriott
May 06, 2010
Seven Troy High School speech team students competing in six events at State Speech Festival, Saturday, May 1, at Kansas City Kansas Community College, brought home three I ratings, one II rating, and two III ratings.
Earning I ratings were senior Daniel Dominguez, sophomore Olivia Bennett, and the team of senior Kenneth Tharman and freshman Chris Tharman.
Dominguez received a I rating for “Tom’s Soliloquies from The Glass Menagerie,” a cutting original to him, for Serious Solo Acting. He had won that category with this piece earlier in the season at the league meet and medaled with it four other times.
Bennett received her I for an original informative speech on “Breast Cancer.” She had won her category with it at the Horton meet and had also medaled with it three other times.
The Tharman brothers earned their I in Improvised Duet Acting, creating a scene at state about a Martian and a locksmith on the sun. The judge wrote in his critique that there was “weirdness at the end,” and the boys agreed. They qualified for state with the category at the Hiawatha meet.
Bennett and sophomore Erin Clary earned a II rating for their duet, “By the Sea,” for which they had previously earned two medals.
Seniors Ashley Miller and Leslie Ostertag received a III for their improvised duet acting piece, for which they had qualified for state at the Horton meet.
Dominguez received a III for his oral interpretation of Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.” Earlier in the season he had won the category with the piece at the league meet and medaled with it at the Basehor-Linwood meet. “The War Prayer” was written in Twain’s later years and contains a pessimistic outlook on war.
Martha-Jean Rockey coached the speech team which this year had 11 members, and which consistently placed as a team from third to sixth at meets. The two meets where they placed sixth were the two larger ones, with 12 and 18 schools participating.
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