Speech Team Places First—Again!

For the 10th consecutive year, the District 97 Speech Team earned first place at the West 40 Speech and Drama Festival, held on Saturday, February 15, 2020.

The District 97 Speech Team is made up of Brooks and Julian students who rehearse for several months to prepare for the annual festival. During rehearsals, performers work with their coaches on their specific events. Some events are individual events such as Serious Poetry, Slam Poetry, Oratorical Declamation, etc. Other events can involve 2-8 performers such as Trio Presentation, Humorous Duet, Reader’s Theater, etc. The week leading up to the competition, the performers at both middle schools present their events at a Showcase for parents.

At the competition, held at Elmwood Park High School, students were judged on various categories such as memorization, fluency, interpretation, audience rapport, enunciation, etc. Once all the performances were completed and the scores tallied, the event culminated with an awards ceremony. Awards were given to the schools that had the best scores overall as a district.

This year we tied with another district at the competition for this first-place recognition. We are very proud of our amazing performers!

Following is a list of the students and coaches that were part of this talented team. For more information about the D97 Speech Team, visit their website here.

Brooks
Simone Arvetis
Noah Campbell
Alex Harks
Audrey Molitar
Alana Slade

Brooks Understudies:
Frank DeLano
Adam Dominowski
Caroline McGinnis
Nathan Nadkarni
Alara Randle
Tessa Troyer

Brooks Coaches:
Pam Gaffney
Carin McKinney
Sarah Perros

Julian:
Mary Andolina
Leila Ashrafi
Tressa Barrigar
Ella Biag
Kate Boveri
Rafael Butt
William Cote
Lincoln Dean
Elisabeth Drobot
Anika Gupta
Zachary Polan
Deshon Press
Carolyn Rainey
Sasha Sieck
Izel Smyth
Liam Schweitzer

Julian Asst (Student) Coach:
Lauren Rainey

Julian Coaches:
John Beck
John Colucci
Katherine Lofton
Bessie Santos