HUMOROUS VIDEO "The Magic School Bus: In the Land of Dinosaurs"

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4-12-2012 Section 8AA Speech Meet in Detroit Lakes, MN

 On April 12, 2012, our speech team returned to Section 8AA after many years in 8A.  We all knew it would take our best performance to make it to State, although that is no different than in 8A.  The truth is, at this point in the season, to move on to State a speaker must be at their best.  This is where all speakers either practiced... or wish they had. 

Congratulations to the top three teams of Moorhead, St. Cloud Tech, and Bemidji.  They sent 36 of the 39 8AA entries.  Congratulations to some amazing and prepared speakers!

I was fortunate to place 2nd in Story Telling so I will be Thief River Falls' lone entry in the State Meet.  We did have a few TRF Speakers cut to finals-  Sam Buckley took 6th in Drama while the Duo team of Elle Jorgenson and Claire Naslund tood 4th!  My brother Brock was on the bubble and missed finals by one spot!  Next year, Brock, next year!  Brayden also was right there and almost made finals.  Brett also had a super experience.  I can't wait to see them next year.   

 On to State!  I look forward to meeting my competitors.  I am working hard and will be ready.  See you there!

3-24-2012 St. Cloud SpecTECHular Speech Meet

 
 
On March 24, 2012, half of our team got on a bus at 3:15 AM and went to the St. Cloud Tech SpecTECHular meet.  The other half of the team went to the Oklee Speech Invite.  The Tech meet is large to say the least.  Head Coach Karmin Schraw puts on a truly spectacular meet with some of the top teams and competitors in the State in attendance.  Competition was fierce.  I cut to finals in both Humor and Story Telling, placing 6th in Humor and 1st in Story Telling. 

Looking forward to the Section 8AA Meet in Detroit Lakes on April 12, 2012!

3-17-2012 Detroit Lakes Speech Meet!

 On March 17, 2012 our team travelled to Detroit Lakes for the Laker Speech Invitational.  This is always a fun meet to attend and Detroit Lakes Head Coach Jennifer Burnside always puts on a super meet.  I am thankful to her for all her hard work to maintain such a quality meet! 

I competed in Humorous and Story Telling and earned 2nd place in each.  My brother, Brayden, took two medals and so did my friend,  Ashley Borchardt.  Together, we posed for our "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil" photo!  Our team had a tremendous day!

3-10-2012 Thief River Falls Prowler Speech Invitational

On March 10, 2012 we were able to sleep in (sort of) instead of meeting an early bus!  Well, we did have a speech meet at our school at 7 AM, but thats still a full hour and a half later than most of our early morning bus rides! 

Our meet was also set opposite to the National Forensic League National Qualifier in Grand Rapids, so it was a relatively small meet.  Most of the teams in Northern MN were there and the meet was a great success.  Hope more teams choose to attend next year!

Brett, Brayden, and I could not attend the NFL IE national qualifier this year as we will be going on a choir trip to New York City the same week as the NFL National Meet. 

We had a great day.  I have been waiting for several weeks to do my "Agnes of God" cutting in Drama, where I placed 1st.  I also entered my "Magic Schoolbus" piece in Humor and took first, plus competed in Story Telling and took 3rd.  The TRF team took lots of medals as you can see by the photos above. 

Our meet had an extra bonus-  we had a professional photographer at the meet who took photos.  You can see them at Prowler Photography.

Another fun event was my little sister Bralynne, was called on stage to receive an award for her Extemp Reading piece, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  She was given an honorary award as Novice Champion, Kindergarden Division!

3-3-2012 First National Bank of Walker Speech Meet!

On March 3, 2012 the Thief River Falls Speech Team got on an early bus (about 4:30 AM) and drove to Walker, MN for the annual First National Bank of Walker Speech Meet!  As you can see by the pictures our team had several speakers cut to finals or next-in finals.  I competed in Story Telling and Humorous Interp and came out in first and fourth places, respectively.  Thank you to our friends at Walker for another superb meet-  and special thanks to First National Bank of Walker for sponsoring this great meet and Walker coaches Stewart Wilson and Chuck Cravens for running the tournament with such ease, fairness, and success! 

Today was quite a milestone for me, too, as today's gold medal was the 50th of my career and my 4th place medal was the 100th medal of my career!  Thank you to my friends in the speech world for the fierce competition and friendship!