Pictured above: ADM’s Reyna Shirley-Brown, Thora Hegarty, and Brenna Seidl

Pictured below: Perry’s Jackson Loyd, Mallory Grant, Olivia Christensen, Andres Zarate, Catherine Miranda, Landon Grant, and Seth Borgeson

High school students from Perry and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn are involved in the Iowa High School Speech Association State Large Group Speech contest today.

Perry had three groups advance with a Division I-rating from the district contest on January 25th, and ADM qualified 17 groups. ADM junior Brenna Seidl, who will participate in varsity reader’s theatre and varsity ensemble acting, tells Raccoon Valley Radio that she wasn’t necessarily shocked to make it to state after the performance during districts.

“We kind of expected to go to state. Like, it’s something that we always shoot for, and we expect going towards, but we were really happy and we just wanted to continue working to get better and do the best that we can at state.”

ADM senior Thora Hegarty, who will be in varsity choral reading and short film, is eager to take in the full experience at state.

“I’m really excited to go and watch some performances that we couldn’t catch when we were at districts. There’s some specific groups that I heard were good and I really, really want to view their pieces.”

Perry has students for musical theater, group improvisation, and a short film. ADM’s side will have two freshmen group improvisation ensembles, as well as one freshman short film and choral reading entries, along with three group improvisation ensembles and three radio entries. The varsity entries include two short films, two ensemble acting groups, and one each for solo mime, readers theater, and choral reading.

Perry is at Ames High School, while ADM is at Waukee High School today.