There are many activities available for participation at AHS. One of those is the speech team. The AHS speech team’s previous coach, Mrs. Green, decided to step down from the position. Mrs. Digmann, along with the help of Dr. Kloch, has decided to take over this role. There are many strong returning speech team members along with quite a few new faces.

 The first meeting on Thursday, September 19, had a strong turn out with 16 members signing up. Coach Digmann stated, “I was pleasantly surprised by how many people came to the initial meeting. The team will be double the size of last year if everyone sticks with it.” She explained that what she believes will be the most challenging part of this year will be getting people involved. Digmann believes there are great returning leaders this year. She plans to have former coaches and judges come to practices this year to help the members of the team be prepared for meets.

When asked why she decided to coach this year, Digmann responded, “They haven’t had many applicants and I didn’t want to see the program become unsuccessful. When I started here, I helped with the speech team and it was a good fit.”  She went on to say that she was an assistant coach for the speech team 17 years ago. Digmann noted that she believes this is a program that needs building and each year that the team is successful, the more it will grow. She also hopes that in these next few years the team will be able to attract many new members.  

The different events available to participate in include: Oral Interpretation of Drama, Duet Acting, Serious Prose, Extemporaneous, Humorous Prose, Informative, Poetry, Persuasive, and Entertainment. Duet Acting and Oral Interpretation of Drama are both performed as group events. The other events are individual competitions. Team members write one speech and use that speech for every meet they attend. The team attends many meets, districts, and if anyone qualifies, state. 

There are many opportunities within the speech team and many different choices available for competition. It is a very rewarding extracurricular activity that builds speaking skills and abilities. The team is excited for the upcoming year and for what is to come.