This page is to inform you of several items related to this year’s speech team. We’d like to share some of the expectations of our program. Since YOU are not auditioning for speech team, we’d like you to be aware of what happens involving your son or daughter. Primarily, we hope you will support your son or daughter in the following ways:
Encourage him/her to audition (auditions for large groups are in November), and auditions for individual events will be the first week in January (Sign ups are right before the Christmas break).
Come to contests to watch the performances. No admission is charged except at all-state large group festival (due to the cost of medals for all performers, and renting college stages.) I don’t feel parents should be charged to watch their own children perform. We did, however, appreciate the free will offering for the public performance a few years ago when we had to fund the overnight trip to All-State large group in Des Moines for 29 students! Some district and state contests are now asking for a small donation (about $3.00)at the door.
Encourage your son/daughter to practice at home, be at all rehearsals on time, and be on time when the bus departs for contest (the bus leaves promptly at the time stated on the schedule each student receives the week of competition). Ask them about their rehearsal schedule, when the bus leaves, and when they perform.
WaMaC Large Group (????????) January 16
Dist. Large Group (Cascade) January 22
State Large Group (Dubuque Senior) February 5
WaMaC IE Tournament (?????????) February 17
All-State Festival (LG) (Ames) February 19
District Individuals () February 26
State Individuals () March 12
All-State (IE) (UNI- Cedar Falls) March 28
Speech Banquet Early April
If you cannot come to contests, you are always welcome to attend a rehearsal. If you’d like to videotape or take pictures of your son or daughter, it is probably best done at a rehearsal as no picture taking or videotaping is allowed during the actual performance at a contest. (You can take pictures in the hallways).
When you come to contest, please be aware that sometimes scheduled events do perform early because of drops or events taking less time than scheduled. So please be early to be sure of seeing the performance. When you come to contest, please understand that it is expected that everyone be as quiet in the halls as possible so all performances can take place without distractions. Also please be aware that sometimes a contest is delayed. I will always try to put an approximate time of return home, but these are just approximate. When we return to school, please pick up your son or daughter as soon as possible after they call. We will not leave before all students are picked up.
If school is delayed due to bad weather, all rehearsals are delayed by that same amount of time. If school is dismissed early, rehearsals are cancelled. If it is not safe to have school, we don’t feel it is safe to have rehearsals. The only exception to this would be if a rehearsal is arranged by students who live in town, and safety is not an issue.
All students are expected to ride the bus to and from contest unless getting permission in advance from the activities director, Mr. Putz. After the contest, parents may take their son or daughter home, but please notify Mrs. Homan so we know who should be on the bus.
We hope your son/daughter will strengthen their communication/performance skills, make new friends, and have fun. Yes, we like to earn 1 ratings, but our primary focus is on improvement. Sometimes students earning 2 ratings improve the most. Our goal is to earn 1 ratings at the state level. Obviously we’d like to get everyone to the All-State festival, but there are many variables involved that we have no control over. Our philosophy, like that of the IHSSA, is “That no form of activity is more important than learning to communicate effectively.”
We appreciate all support for the IHS Speech Team.
Thank you!
Gina Homan, Carole Franz, Tim Anderson, Madie Corkery.