Orono’s Dore caps speech career with honors

Madeleine Dore, a senior at Orono High School, capped a stellar high school speech career by earning 2024 All-State Speech Honors. To qualify for All-State, speakers must attain a set of milestones established by the Minnesota Speech Coaches Association. Those qualifications include being a senior in high school and excelling in competition, including at least one appearance at the MSHSL State Speech Tournament. Students are also expected to utilize their speech skills in other activities and to be engaged with the community through service.

Dore, a speech team captain for two years, placed second in the state this season in Creative Expression, the first year in which she had competed in this category. She also placed fifth in the state her freshman year in Humorous Interpretation. Dore was crowned section champion twice, both in 2024 in Creative Expression and in Humorous Interpretation in 2021, the same year that her older sister Jillian was section champion in Storytelling. That year they both had to compete at the state tournament online because of the pandemic.

Dore earned All-Conference Honors in 2022, 2023, and in 2024, earning two honors this year for her two categories, Creative Expression and Humorous Interpretation. An excellent student as well a decorated speaker, Dore earned Academic All-American Honors from the National Speech and Debate Association. She has also attained the highest degree of NSDA honors, achieving the Premier Distinction level and currently ranks first in NSDA points among all Humorous Interpretation speakers in Minnesota and fifth in the nation as a whole.

This season Dore also achieved a long-standing speech career goal, earning a prestigious Apple award by placing in the top three at the Apple Valley High School Minneapple tournament in February. With 950 competitors from six states, the Minneapple is considered the toughest tournament of the speech season in Minnesota. In March, Dore achieved another career goal by qualifying for NSDA Nationals in her other category, Humorous Interpretation. She will compete at nationals in Des Moines, Iowa in June. She will also compete in Humor at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) in May in Bellevue, Nebraska. She has qualified for NIETOC every season since eighth grade.

Dore credits program head coach Barb Shofner, creative expression coach Nicolle Berg, and humor coach Jody Harmon, with whom she has worked since seventh grade, for helping her develop as a speaker, as a leader, and a person.