Mt. Pleasant teams competes at state speech tournament

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant High School speech team's one competitive group received a '2” at the state large group speech competition in Monticello, where the group competed virtually. All three judges scored the group a 2, the second-highest score you can receive, and the group was not invited to the All-State competition.

Junior Shaylnn Allen and senior Angelique Frazier-Neitman composed the group that participated in the state competition. They competed in the musical theatre category, performing their rendition of 'Defying Gravity” written by the Glee cast.

The group had to overcome a few barriers to participate in the district and state large group speech competitions. Including social distancing during their performance, masks when not performing, a limit of 30-minute practices and other safety measures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

'I think that they did very well with the amount of practice that they had, and the number of changes that they had to do,” speech coach Jessi Rich said.

Not only have they had to overcome the physical barriers of social distancing they also had to adapt to performing and competing in a virtual format. Whether it is on live Zoom with a judge like their district performance or submitting a recording to be judges at the state competition.

'One of the judges at state said that they wished they had interacted more, and it almost seemed like there was a wall between them but really we were keeping distance for social distancing so that they didn't have to wear a mask. It's one of those things that is hard to translate to a judge when they are just watching a video and giving the feedback virtually and not face-to-face,” Rich said.

Even with barriers, the group participated in the state and district competitions and received high marks, leaving hope for Rich that this year isn't a complete loss.

The speech team is beginning individual event practices and will compete in the individual speech district competition on Feb. 27.

'Just having that one group and being able to focus on them, and their performance. With them going to districts and getting good feedback, and then going on to state and getting good feedback has really prepared me for individuals, and I now I know what some of those challenges are going to be,” Rich said.