Area schools combine for four state-bound large group speech events

Nodaway Valley has three events and Orient-Macksburg one that are advancing to this Saturday’s state speech contest at Waukee High School.

This is the large group portion of the speech season, where there are various categories of events that small groups can participate in, while individual speech will follow.

Nodaway Valley has advanced to state in a musical theater performance by Micah Cronk, Bella Day and Melanie Kilborn; a television news production by Paul Kading and Erik Jensen and a short film called “The Last Recording” consisting of Vivienne Burnside, Paul Kading, Michidel Mercado, Day and Jensen.

Orient-Macksburg is going in a readers theatre performance called “The Last Letter Jacket.”

A member of the short film and TV news piece going to state, Kading said it has been a good large group speech season thus far for the entire team.

“I’ve been to state speech, last year for improv, and that was fun,” Kading said. “I think it will be pretty fun to go in two events as opposed to just one.”

Day said musical theater isn’t any different than being in a musical, however it’s on a much smaller scale.

“It’s in a small room with way less people. Melanie and Micah are doing it with me and we’ve put in a lot of work in just over a month,” Day said. “We’re really excited to go. This is my first year [in speech] so I’m excited. It’s fun doing this with other people. You really make a connection working together.”

The short film the Nodaway Valley students produced is a horror film that carries the plot of a middle school getting broken into.

“There’s this person in there that picks us off one by one,” Day said. “Three teenagers were never found again, but they find this video camera that has all this footage from the little adventure in middle school.”

Jensen said that in the TV news category, he and Kading filmed a newscast using real news and sports stories, but it takes on a personality of its own. They will likely re-record their piece this week before state contest.

“It’s supposed to be like it is filmed in our mom’s basement, like we’re just starting out,” Jensen said. “There’s only two people, it’s really dodgy filming, hard cuts, and you can see the camera moving. It’s not very clean but you’re just watching it. It’s supposed to be kind of funny. We’re hoping the judge understands that and they’re not too strict in what they want for the news section.”

Orient-Macksburg’s piece, which features senior Carter Osborne as the main character, is a readers theatre piece written by speech coach Kendra Breitsprecher.

The script addresses the closing of so many rural schools in Iowa, like Orient-Macksburg is set to do when it dissolves July 1, 2026, if a March 4 vote to do so goes through.

“We have had audience members in tears at all our performances,” Breitsprecher said. “I think this shows we are covering a very sensitive issue for Iowans.”

The Orient-Macksburg contingent said they’re proud of the fact that though their school only has 90 students in their entire district, they’re still able to put a quality large group speech program together. Some participants have never done speech before.

Their piece follows the life of a letter jacket all the way from the main character’s great grandmother and through the generations to her own letter jacket. The main character is the last one to graduate before her high school closes.

At no point during the 21-minute play can there be mention of the school the entry is from, so a fictional school name is used in the piece, however many parts of the script use real stories from real Orient-Macksburg alumni, talking about the stage on the third floor, the days of smoking during study hall and how the 1980s farm crisis put a major hit on small schools.

Osborne explained that it’s almost easier having the author of the piece in the room because Breitsprecher knows how she envisioned certain lines being said.

Kolbie Carson said the harder part for the group is the power this piece holds for those who are struggling to come to grips with Orient-Macksburg having to dissolve.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure. Our school is shutting down and this tells a story about that,” Carson said. “It’s a really big deal and it’s very sad for everyone in the community. At all of our performances so far people have been in tears in the audience. The people in tears at our last performance were my parents, and that was very hard for me to watch as I was performing it.”

The best of the best entered into this state contest can move onto all-state.