Chase County Schools freshman medals at state speech

    Aragorn Green, a freshman at Chase County Schools, brought home a silver medal from the C1 State High School Speech competition last Thursday in Kearney.
    His “I Got You” entry in the Poetry division outlined the dark side of addiction and the hold it can have on an individual.
    He was the only CCS competitor who advanced to the finals for medal contention.
    Students had to place in the top six in preliminary rounds to advance to the finals.
    Also competing for CCS at the state contest were Brayan Cazares, Annika McDaniel, Andrew Wiest, George Colton and Zach Herbert.
    Speech coaches Jill Bauerle and Alex Schilke expressed how much they appreciated this year’s work ethic and dedication on the team.
    With six qualifiers, this year’s was the largest group going to state in at least a decade, Bauerle said.
    In their state performances, Bauerle said the CCS students “absolutely performed their best.”
    It’s a very competitive field when students get to the state level, she added.
    “It’s highly competitive. It really comes down to did the judges connect with you and what you are doing,” she said.
    “It’s phenomenal competition there. I’m very proud of each of them,” she said.
    Aragon said his experience at state was “amazing, eye-opening and inspiring,” and where the judges have the speakers guessing.
    “I learned judges will make you think they put one thing on the ballot and then put the opposite, so you never know how they’ll place you,” he said.
    And a good speech doesn’t always mean a medal.
    “Not only is there so much more competition on the higher levels, if someone is really good, it doesn’t always mean they’ll place well or at all,” he said.
    Cazares, a four-year CCS speech team member, competed in two divisions—Serious Prose and Program of Oral Interpretation, placing 8th in both in preliminaries.
    His Serious Prose entry, “The Day the Voices Stopped” by Ken Steele is based on the real-life story of Steele and his experience with schizophrenia as a preteen.
    In Program of Oral Interpretation, Cazares’ entry “Immigration, a Program” was composed of a script, poetry and prose on two perspectives of immigration.
    McDaniel, also in speech four years, competed in Entertainment Speaking with “White Lies.” Her premise was that everyone lies and she humorously reviewed some of the reasons for lying—people’s feelings, staying out of trouble and staying out of jail.
    Wiest, a sophomore, earned a trip to state with his Humorous Prose titled “Al Literation: Private Eye” by Forrest Musselman. He played seven characters in this fun script about Al solving the case of Sally’s seashells, which were stolen by none other than Peter Piper who sells pecks of pickled peppers.
    Wiest, Colton and Herbert competed in Oral Interpretation of Drama. “Deliver Us Not,” written by Lee Howard and Greg Gamble, involved a script about three fetuses who debate the possibilities of life after birth while they wait to be born. Colton is a sophomore and Herbert a junior.
    Chase County tied for 14th in team standings, while David City won the Class C1 team title, topping the 20 other teams in the class.