by Graham Davis

On a cold Jan. 24, PCM students woke up ready to head off to District Speech in Montezuma. Director of Speech Ms. Samantha Pohl and all students participating left the high school around 6:30 a.m. This year, students from all grades were involved in many different areas of acting.
Three groups competed in ensemble acting, which is memorizing a scene and performing it. Next, there was three groups of improv, which is where students are given three scenarios from a hat and given two minutes to plan, followed by a five-minute performance. Lastly, there was one large reader’s theatre group, which allows performers to have the script in their hands while they are performing.
Two groups of improv and two groups of ensemble acting made it to State. The students participating in State are seniors Grace Telfer and Rachel Peter; juniors Nathen Trausch, Clay Cooper, Johanna Baker, Karina Van Dyke, Ryan Kohlhof and Josh Phifer; sophomores Jayci Vos, Katie Vande Wall, Bailey Brodersen, Megan Cox, Morgan McDowell and Leevi Telfer; and freshman Noah Henkenius.
In past years, student numbers have gone increasingly up. This year, about 30 kids participated.
“I think it’s because people wanted to do the play, and they had so much fun doing it that they wanted to do something that was like the play and be surrounded by those people,” Pohl said.
Many people could say this is their favorite part of the year, because of the feeling of having a small family within the school, or because it is fun to being able to get up and act in front of their peers and a judge.
“My favorite part of Speech is that even though the play is over and you’re sad about that, you have something that brings you back together with your friends,” junior speech participant Johanna Baker said. “Also, it’s fun to go to State.”
State competition is on Saturday, Feb. 7, in Cedar Rapids.