The Mayo Speech Team prides itself on giving anyone with any skill level can find a place. This year, they had 39 people compete at Big 9 and 29 people compete at Sections, but the year was not all smooth sailing. Part of the way through the season, the head coach left, which led Kim Hill to take over. Despite this, the team still finished strong at State and Nationals.

Earning a bid is the main way to qualify for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC).  There are a few ways to do this, but the main one is by placing highly at qualifying tournaments. NIETOC uses a different set of categories than does the Minnesota State High School League. While there is some overlap, students hoping to qualify often choose their categories with NIETOC. According to Maeva Djossou, “The past few times we’ve gone to nationals, we only brought two people. This year, we have six for NIETOC.” 

Competitive speech is divided into several categories, which fall into two different groups: draw and public address. With draw categories, you don’t know what your speech is about until the actual event takes place, when you will draw to figure out your topic. Some people like draw categories because they require less prep work. For many people it may take a year or two to figure out which category suits them best. For Lily Letourneaut, it wasn’t until one of her friends suggested she try extemporaneous speaking. “I ended up placing 2nd, the highest I ever had!! Right away, I became obsessed, and within just over t weeks I was champion for the first time and got my first NIETOC bid,” Letourneaut said.

In fact, there is quite a range of categories to choose from. Alex Zoghby says he likes “Humorous” because “You can always expect to make people laugh, and when they do laugh it boosts your confidence and makes you perform better.” He also likes how “the rounds are more enjoyable to sit through because everyone in the round is trying to be funny. Sometimes it works out and is enjoyable; other times it’s awkward.”

Mayo sent the following speakers to NIETOC:

• Maeva Djossou (Program Oral Interpretation)
• Alex Zoghby (Humorous and Impromptu)
• Lily Letourneaut (Extemporaneous Speaking and Duet Acting)
• Jack Wagner (Impromptu, Prose, and Duet Acting)
• Alicia Do (Expository)
• Zia Raukar (Impromptu)

Despite only having six competitors, the team placed second, narrowly missing first! Next up, the Speech Team will be sending Djossou, Raukar, and Do to the National Speech and Debate Association’s tournament in early June. 

After a long weekend at NIETOC the team celebrates: (l-r) Coach Kim Hill, Lily Letourneaut, Alicia Do, Zia Raukar, Maeva Djossou, Alex Zoghby, Jack Wagner, and Coach Claire Sagstuen.

Throughout the speech season, there are many different competitions, most happening on Saturday mornings. Two of the biggest are Big 9 and Sections, where each category can have 16-30 competitors. The top three in each category at Sections advance to State. This year Mayo sent six students: 

• Claire Wirt (Creative Expression)
• Marjorie Tweedy (Original Oratory)
• Alicia Do (Informative)
• Alex Zoghby (Humorous) 
• Zia Raukar (Extemporaneous Reading)
• Lily Letourneaut (Extemporaneous Speaking) 
• Alex Zoghby placed 5th in Humor at State

Joining the speech team may seem like an intimidating undertaking, but it’s a lot of fun and worth the effort. Speech caption Maeva Djossou recommends that those interested should “…just do it. Don’t be afraid of looking stupid or thinking that you’re not a good enough speaker.” She made the point that, “It is truly a beautiful thing to be able to stand in front of many people and speak for a cause.” Lily Letourneaut advises all people thinking about joining speech to “Remember that there’s only you a judge and like four to five other competitors in the room. All of them are just as nervous as you, and nobody’s going to judge you meanly or unfairly. My favorite hack for when I was nervous my freshman year was I would not wear my glasses while I was speaking and then I couldn’t see the eyes of my audience, and it calmed my nerves.”

After awards at Sections, the whole Mayo Speech Team takes a minute to take a picture with their second place trophy. 

If you’re thinking about joining speech next year, keep an eye on the Mayo Speech Team’s Instagram. They’ll post about their informational meeting in the fall!