Four members of the Perry Speech Team have been recognized for their outstanding individual entries, and were nominated for All-State recognition by the Iowa High School Speech Association.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic’s arrival in Iowa coincided with the State Individual Speech Competition, which was scheduled for March 14th, and resulted in the cancellation of the events around the state. However, the Perry team still performed that day in a small state competition at Ames High School that only included the students, coaches, and judges. Perry brought 18 entries to the competition, and the IHSSA recently revealed that four of them were selected for the All-State program.

Unfortunately, the festival itself has been canceled, so there will be no in-person recognition for the students, but they will receive medals and certificates for the honor. The Perry All-State representatives include Kaylyn Bousman in storytelling, Dannah Karolus in storytelling, Rylyn Gilmore in prose, and Alex Tasler in poetry. For Gilmore, this is her third straight All-State selection, having been nominated in the poetry category each of the last two years.