Speaking of success

WAUSA – Kyle and Samantha Stevens’ goal for their Wausa speech team is to always do what they can today to make themselves better than they were the day before.

“That is always our goal,” Kyle said. “The kids want to perform at a high level, and they understand that consistent practice and work ethic is the way to achieve that goal.”

That consistent practice and work ethic could help Kyle and Samantha – Wausa’s high school speech coaches – lead the Vikings to another chance to compete for a state title.

Wausa finished in second place – four total points behind Humphrey – as a team in Class D1 at the Nebraska School Activities Association’s 2021 State Speech Championships.

Now a new speech season has arrived for the Vikings, and Kyle and Samantha are excited to see how their 28 team members will perform in competitions this year.

“We have an experienced team, but we also have a good mix of young talent coming up,” Kyle said. “I am excited to see what this team can do this year.

“We have a lot of senior leadership and a lot of kids have been to state and competed at a high level,” he said. “The kids work hard, and I think this will be evident as the season progresses.”

Wausa senior Leah Bloomquist is looking forward to performing alongside all of her friends during the 2022 speech season.

She also wants to make people laugh at what she described as an “amazing piece” that her team will perform for an oral interpretation of drama.

“I’m really excited to see how far we’ll grow and what we can do with this piece,” Leah said. “It’s basically a short play.”

Fellow senior Tyler Baue recalled how the COVID-19 pandemic stopped people from coming to see the Wausa speech team perform in person in the past.

“I’m just excited to show everyone what I’ve got again, what I have in store this year, especially my family,” he said. “Last year was a little difficult. We didn’t get to have as many people come.

“I’m super excited for people to come and just watch speech again, to get excited about speech again,” he said.

The Vikings have been working on speech activities since the middle of November. Their first meet will be Saturday, Jan. 29, at the Hartington-Newcastle/Cedar Catholic Invitational in Hartington.

“This is a good test to open the competition season,” Kyle said. “We go to four regular meets with the whole team a year.

“We also take a varsity team to conference and districts,” he said. “Those who finish in the top three in their event at districts qualify for state in Kearney.”

After starting the speech season off in Hartington, the Wausa speech team will hit the road again for the Wayne High/Wayne State Classic on Saturday, Feb. 5, in Wayne.

The Lewis and Clark Conference Speech Contest will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 9, in Creighton.

The Vikings’ home meet, the Wausa Speech Invitational, will be held on Saturday, Feb. 12, followed by the Crofton Speech Invite on Saturday, Feb. 19, to finish the regular season.

Wausa will host the District D1-3 speech competition on Monday, Feb. 28. The NSAA’s 2022 State Speech Championships will be held Friday, March 18, for Class D1 in Kearney.

“We are looking forward to working with these talented students,” Kyle said. “Their talent and their work ethic make them a fun group to work with.

“We are routinely amazed by what they achieve,” he said. “We have high expectations for the team, but it is effective because the students on the team have high expectations as well.”

Speech team members compete in nine events, which encompass acting, interpretation, platform speaking and extemporaneous speaking.

“Competitive speech has been big in the area and the state for many years now,” Kyle said. “Our team has been fortunate enough to be successful both in individual events and on the team level.”

During Kyle’s 10 years of coaching speech in Wausa – three working as an assistant and seven running the team along with Samantha – the Vikings have earned four state team championships and two state runner-up finishes.

Before that, the Wausa speech team’s best showing at the state competition had been two second-place finishes.

Kyle is in his 12th year overall of teaching high school language arts and coaching speech.

“As far as coaching goes, I have coached and judged for a long time now,” he said. “I have been fortunate to coach with great people at Wausa and everywhere else I’ve been.

“I have been privileged enough to judge and coach under some of the best coaches in the area and the state, and I have learned so much,” he said. “The fine arts community is close-knit, and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.”

Samantha, the first-grade teacher for Wausa Public Schools, has been involved in speech for a long time herself.

“She has a passion and talent for the activity,” Kyle said. “We are truly blessed to be able to share this together, and we really have gotten to work with some amazing students over the years.

“This year is certainly no exception,” he said. “We both are so excited to see what these kids can do and Saturday is just the beginning.”