Speech Team member Brian Goldfarb stands with the other Humorous Interpretation semi-finalists at one of the team's many tournaments.

HHS’S Speech Team is preparing for their biggest tournaments yet.

On Friday, the team will be competing at the Fox Valley Conference tournament.

“We expect to win conference,” said head coach, Tom George.

All of the varsity teammates will be competing for and hoping to win the title.

To make winning possible, the team has been preparing and practicing their performances.

“We are required to have a half an hour at least of practice per week per event and group practices every Friday after a team meeting,” said senior Marta Makowski. “We prepare by taking our written critiques and are constantly rewriting, polishing performance aspects.”

On Saturday, the team will be competing in their last regular season tournament at Genesseo.

After Friday and Saturday, the State Series will begin. This means that regionals, sectionals, and state will be on the tournament list. If the team does well in regionals, they will proceed to sectionals and then state.

“We’ve had a very good season,” said George. “We expect to compete at regionals and sectionals and have individual students at state.”

Only a select amount of members of the Speech Team are competing in the State Series. Ten Speech Team members make up the Regional Team. Also, a select few from JV will be performing at the JV state competition.

“The State Series is the most intense part of the season,” said senior Olivia Stepp, “But it brings everyone together on the Regional Team even closer than before, so it is a fantastic experience.”

The Regional Team consists of and they will be performing:

Marta Makowski- Original Oratory and Impromptu

Brandon Bencko- Extemporaneous and Oratorical Declaration

Olivia Stepp- Special Occasion and Dramatic Duet

Lauren Simek- Poetry and Humorous Duet Acting

Brian Goldfarb- Duet Acting and Original Comedy Speaker

Chris O’Meara- Radio Speaking

Irina Tuluca- Informative Speaking

Jade Strong- Dramatic Interpretation

Jeremy Dorsey- Humorous Interpretation

Brooke Romero- Prose Reading

If you would like to watch the Regional Team’s performances, they are hosting their “Evening with the Regional Team” on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6:30-9 p.m. in the Choir Room.

Speech Team is working hard to make their performances shine at their upcoming competitions. Between the practices and talent, they are ready to compete.

“We’re going for the gold,” said Makowski, “hopefully, winning the regional meet one week away from this Saturday. Followed by sectionals in two weeks and then working towards placing at state finals.”