Platteview High School’s Speech season has come to a close; the team performed their pieces for a final time on April 9th, 2018. Mrs. Michelle Janda’s team has had a successful season with three of their six competitors qualifying for Nationals, one of which qualified for Nebraska’s State Competition.

At the Speech Showcase freshmen John Kinney and Kyley Bishop each gave a poetry performance. Kinney highlighted the emotions felt when one falls in love in his light-hearted poetry collection “The Expectation of Love.” Bishop gave an emotionally charged speech, recognizing the work of individuals who have survived rape. “My biggest improvement this year was being less nervous with [giving my speech] and [building] confidence when performing,” said Bishop.

Emma Mathias, also a freshman at Platteview, presented her persuasive piece “Honesty is the Best Policy.” Throughout the speech she explains the importance of honesty, and how relationships between individuals rely on honest characteristics.

Senior Rachel Rockwell also performed her poetry piece that showcased the life of those in prison, and how prison has impacted their families; she also performed this piece at Nebraska’s State competition. Rockwell later joined her duet partner Reed Lenker for their comedic speech. The comedy follows characters Chelly (Rachel Rockwell) and Tom (Reed Lenker) as they attempt to sell the audience the “Script Cleaner 5000,” a machine that takes all offensive scenes out of plays. Lenker and Rockwell qualified and performed at the National level with Jonathan Rand’s script “The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World.” Lenker plans on performing a serious piece next year, and said he hopes to improve on his tone and use of emotion for the upcoming season.

Finally, Alyssa Riha – who was triple entered – performed a humorous, a serious, and an entertainment speech at the showcase. Riha featured many characters warning the audience of the dangers in an office space in her humorous piece “Office Space: Cubical Paradise or Factory of Death” by Gregory T. Burns. Riha also performed her entertainment speech which she wrote herself, entitled “Dad Jokes.” Lastly, there was her serious piece “Three Little Words” by Ashley Rhodes Courter, which she also performed at the National Competition.

Congratulations to the Platteview High School Speech Team for an exciting 2017-2018 season.