Woodbury speakers to vie in state contest

The Woodbury High School Speech team excelled this year at the 4AA Section Speech meet on Wednesday, April 9 at Woodbury High School. The team finished second out of 12 teams, and 22 students earned medals.

The top-three finishers in each category advance to the state speech contest to be held Saturday, April 19 at South St. Paul High School.

The following Woodbury students — seven of the 12 are sophomores or juniors — will compete at State.

• Section Champions: Harry Dixon, senior - Poetry, Lauren Seashore, junior - Original Oratory and Grace Park, junior - Discussion

• Second- place finishers: Ali Rekow, team captain/senior - Creative Expression, Lisa Clinton, team captain/senior – Poetry, Delaney McMullen, sophomore - Discussion and Jackie Danner, senior - Informative Speaking

• Third-place finishers: Lauren Knutson, team captain/senior - Prose, Marie Vanderpan, sophomore - Discussion, Heather Mohr, sophomore - Drama, Rachel Haile, sophomore - Extemporaneous Reading and Ben Feldkamp, Junior - Great Speeches

“Speech is something that I enjoy because it is really exciting. It combines competition, academics, and performing arts,” said section champion Harry Dixon. “Also, when you are in speech you learn life long skills like poise and presentational skills that will help you succeed in the future."

The Woodbury High School speech team has a record of success over the past 20 years.

Woodbury High School ranks 6th all-time in Class “AA” (large) schools for students earning state speech medals with a total of 80.

The school has also produced nine state champions.

The team is coached by Jon and Karen Seashore.

Discussion coaches are Laura Dobbs and Katie Scholz.

Tags: education, woodbury, speech, team, state, seashore