Moorhead, Minn. – The Moorhead High School Speech Team is performing for a local audience in an annual show featuring student members who have received widespread recognition for their work.
The “Shut Up and Say Something” showcase will take place at the Horizon Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 29th at 5pm.
And to say this team has talent is an understatement, since the program has won the state championship eight times.
“They [the students] craft messages that are near and dear to their heart,” says team coach Rebecca Meyer-Larson, who tells The Flag’s Scott Hennen that the team mission is to “change the world one word at a time.”
A common misconception is that the speech team is like a debate team, but the two groups are separate from each other.
“Maybe if you think about track,” says Meyer-Larson. “You have cross-country runners and individual events. We’re more like the individual events of track.”
Meyer-Larson says her team’s messages are sometimes comedic, dramatic or oratorical.
“Watching kids recognize the power of their voice and understanding how important it is to use their voice has been a blessing and my greatest passion,” says Meyer-Larson.
Sam Schaefer, a Moorhead high school senior and speech team member, was recently the subject of a documentary film called Speak that was recently featured at the Sundance Film Festival.
Schaefer explained his process of crating his oration.
“I come up with a big idea and make a bubble chart and then I write questions,” said Schaefer. “Then I settle on one thing and some solutions.”
Schafer’s says his piece is about addressing cynicism, after getting the idea while watching The Office television sitcom during a class exercise.
Schaefer says he noticed he was the only one laughing among his classmates while it was playing.
“It seems like people aren’t delighting anymore,” said Schaefer. “There’s no joy in the classroom, so I settled on the defeatist attitude that no matter where you are, people are feeling it.”
Fellow senior Ashlyn Kanuch has a 10-minute performance about the famous tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in 1973 better know as the ‘Battle of the Sexes’.
Kanuch acts out the parts on stage calling it a “one person, everything-you’ve-got performance.”
“It’s a really comedic take on the tennis match,” said Kanuch. “It just really emphasizes the joy in sports and how we can always find ourselves in different kinds of activities.”
Kanuch also explained her own approach to finding ideas.
“I look at things that I find really important, but I also find things that everyone can really enjoy and find a lot of love for,” said Kanuch.
Tickets, which are $8 for adults and $6 for students, will be available for the show at the center door.
