Say What? Ronan Speech and Drama ramps it up for home tournament
RONAN — Imagine standing in front of a room full of strangers and having eight minutes to make them laugh. Or think. Or feel.
For most people, that’s a nightmare. For the Ronan Speech and Drama club, it’s just another weekend.
Over 10 weekends during the year, the club travels throughout the state, competing with other schools, aiming to be the top performers in specific categories.
The club is split up among a handful of events: humorous interpretation, expository speaking and classical duo to name a few. The object is simple: succinctly present a piece while utilizing the aspects of whichever specific event the speaker is performing. For humorous performers, body gestures and facial expressions are critical. For dramatic events, evoking emotion is key. For dual teams, a seamless rapport, along with good acting, is important. For expository speakers, an event in which the participant chooses their topic to present, visual aids help convey their piece to the audience.
The list goes on, but at the end of the 18-hour day, the individual finishes are tallied up to determine team placements. At their most recent meet in early December, the Ronan team, consisting of 15 students, finished first with 69 points. The next closest team had 19.
Up and down the roster, students have chipped in to achieve those types of results. Senior Saba Balouch has won four of five tournaments for Memorized Public Address this season, junior Scionara Shehry and senior Andrew Crenshaw teamed up last year to earn state champion honors in serious duo and the sophomore tandem of Ethan Sheumaker and Bradly Findly improved from ninth place at a meet earlier in the season to second in their most recent tournament.
Most of that success can be credited to the dedication of the team, which puts in countless hours preparing. While it depends on the event as to how much preparation goes into getting ready for a tournament, every member of the team stays after class to put their best foot forward.
“Some students are in here for a half hour, others are in here for hours,” head coach Melissa Knabe said. “All their hard work has paid off.”
“Practice pays off,” sophomore Shelby Benson said. “It feels a lot smoother.”
As easy as the students may make it look, however, there are plenty of challenges.
As a freshman, Bria Waldron is somewhat new to the world of speech and debate, but has done well so far this season with her topic, theories why we dream.
“It’s really scary, but if you’re a good actor, you can get away with it,” Waldron said.
For the only time all season, Ronan will host a speech and drama tournament on Jan. 14 and the team is in need of approximately 100 judges to volunteer for a day. A judging clinic will be held on Jan. 12 at 5:30 for people interested in helping out with a fun, lively and charismatic event. For those interested or for more information, contact Knabe by phone at 676-3390 x3523 or by e-mail at Melissa.knabe@ronank12.edu. You don’t want to miss this.