Five of Kennedy’s eight large-group speech groups qualified for and attended the All-State Festival in Ames on Saturday, Feb. 22. 

The musical theater group was non-performing, but the short film, readers theater, choral reading and radio broadcast groups performed. The groups prepared their material based on different criteria and the preparation time varied with each group. 

“Every category is different, and preparing material looks different for many categories,” Musical Theater and Improv Coach Logan Pratt said. “For improv, we focus a lot on building good habits for our group members, since by definition they are not allowed to prepare anything prior to their performance.”

The speech program has been on the rise at Kennedy over the last couple of years. Alumni coaches have noticed significant differences since their time in the program. 

“I believe we had a total of 27 students participating this year in the Large Group division,” said Coach Gabe Fink. 

Speech has slowly increased recruitment each year since a dip in membership after the previous coach moved districts.

“And with that comes our most successful season we’ve had since the pandemic,” Short Film Coach Ashton Nanke said. “We’re coaching more categories, more students and bringing back traditions like our home performance/awards show [and] Speech Night (now called The Speechies).”

All eight groups also qualified for State at the districts competition, which was on Jan. 25, in Monticello. Five groups qualified for All-State, which was on Feb. 8, at Washington High School. 

The path from preparation to success has been one of significance and emotion.

“To see how the group grew and changed throughout the season was fantastic,” Nanke said. “I truly couldn’t be more proud of the work and dedication they put in.”