Auditions for the EHS speech team are taking place from November 1st – 3rd. Any Eagan High School student can audition, even if they attend SES, and there’s absolutely no experience required. Within speech, there are thirteen different categories. In other words, there is something for everyone. If you’re the serious type, there is prose. For the jokesters, there’s humorous interpretation.

The auditions will be held in a classroom. In the auditions, there will be between eight to ten coaches observing. Speech coach Mr. Hammond says, “The biggest thing is that you look like you are comfortable getting up and speaking in front of a group. As long as you have confidence, personality, and are willing to take risks, then you will be just fine.” Also, like many other activities, make sure that you are prepared.

Once you make the team, you will be assigned an individual coach that you meet with once or twice per week for an hour. That way, if you’re in another activity, you can almost always schedule a practice around it. In addition to the weekly practices, rehearsing your speech when free is a good idea too. “The more you work, the better you do,” Mr. Hammond clarifies.

After all the hard work is done and your speech is the best it can be, there are the weekly tournaments. From January to March there are eight meets, all of them on different Saturdays. Students must dress up in professional attire when attending each competition. The team competes in three rounds with six to seven high schoolers and one judge in the same room listening to each other. The top six competitors, after the three rounds, go into the final round and get ranked.

“The most important part of speech team is the awesome people you get to meet and work with,” Mr. Hammond eagerly explains. For more information, talk to speech coaches Mr. Hammond, Mr. Brook, or Ms. Anker. The audition signup sheet will be posted outside Ms. Anker’s room, so go audition!