Maharishi School to send three acts to state speech

FAIRFIELD – Maharishi School is sending seven students to compete in the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Large Group Speech Contest this weekend.

The seven students all perform in a choral reading, and four of those also perform in a couple of ensemble acting troupes. All three groups earned a Division I rating at the regional competition, which earned them a spot at state, which will be held Saturday at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids.

The students are “Kiara” Ngoc Kanh Linh Dinh, Aditi Pyakurel, Bingda Zhang, Daira Valls, Eva Quevedo Rubio, Gabriel “Chacho” Roesler and Jolie Gaquer. The students are led by speech coach Loreena Hansen, in her second year at the helm. Hansen is a 2017 graduate of Maharishi School, and performed in the school’s speech team throughout high school.

Hansen said all students are a little shy when they first join the speech team. But as they get more comfortable performing for an audience, she sees them “come out of their shells.”

“Several of the students are actually new to the country,” she said. “It’s been incredible to watch their progress. We didn’t have boarding students in the speech group last year, so having them this year has been wonderful. They do such an incredible job that it doesn’t look like a challenge, but it really is a challenge. Choral reading is difficult even for people who have a strong grasp of English as a first language, but learning English, and being expected to speak it with perfect pronunciation in perfect sync with a group of other people, it’s amazing how well they do it.”

Hansen said she was especially impressed with Kiara, who was not planning to be on the speech team. However, school staff recommended that she join based on her “exuberant personality.”

“She decided to take the plunge pretty quickly, and she has put her all into it, despite how daunting it might have been,” Hansen.

Hansen it was nice to receive a visit before Wednesday’s rehearsal from her former speech coach, Brendan Thomas. She also gets some help from Jan Thatcher with the costumes. Apart from that, Hansen is in charge of everything else, and even painted the props used in the choral reading and acting pieces.

The choral reading the students perform is called “Your Verse in the Powerful Play,” and the two ensemble acting entries are two scenes from the same play, “I And You,” by Lauren Gunderson.

Bingda, a junior, and Aditi, a freshman, perform in one of the two ensemble acting groups, and they are both in their first year on the speech team. Bingda said he likes the thrill of being on stage, and noted that their speech coach is “very supportive.”

Aditi said she’s done public speaking since she was a little girl, and that the stage is her “favorite place to be.”

“I’m so excited to perform at state,” Aditi said. “I always get an adrenaline rush, and I don’t remember anything from when we performed at districts.”

Eva, a sophomore, said this is her second year in speech. She went out last year because she was scared of performing, and she saw the speech team as a way to overcome her fears.

“I would get really shaky when I had to present for a class,” she said. “Speech sounded really fun and enjoyable, so I decided to join. I still get a little nervous before I perform, but now I can talk in front of audiences.”

Daira, Eva’s sister who is a junior, said speech team has helped her overcome her nervousness.

“If I were to do any performances later on, this experience definitely helped prepare me,” she said.

Kiara, a junior, said she joined speech because she wanted to challenge herself, to see if she could balance her school work with an extracurricular activity.

“I wanted to test my endurance, to see if I could do both of these things well,” Kiara said.

Chacho and Jolie, both seniors, act in the other ensemble acting troupe, playing the same characters that Bingda and Aditi play, but in a different scene. Chacho and Jolie are in their second year in the program. Jolie said she came to the school at the beginning of 2021, and was looking for an opportunity to get involved in fine arts.

“I didn’t know that speech existed,” she said. “When Ms. Hansen introduced speech to us my junior year, it was literally the happiest day of my life.”

Jolie said speech team is hard but a “good type of hard,” and that she feels a sense of calm while performing.

“At All-State, I felt bliss,” she said about last year’s team. “When you hear the meditators talk about bliss, I felt it.”

Chacho, who is Hansen’s brother, said his sister encouraged him to join the team because she thought he’d like it. Chacho wanted to support his sister, so he gave it a shot.

“It turns out it’s pretty chill,” he said. “It works on my public speaking, and my ability to read things fluently in front of people. It helps me in the classroom.”

The public will have a chance to see the Maharishi School speech performers in action later this month. The school will hold its “Speech Showcase” at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at Spayde Theater on the campus of Maharishi International University.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com