Orono speech team members take skills to nationals

Four members of the Orono Speech Team are competing at the National Speech and Debate Association’s 2024 National Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.

Orono senior and team captain Madeleine Dore and sophomore McKenna Monger qualified to compete at nationals by placing in the top three in their categories at the NSDA district qualifying tournament in March. Dore will compete in Humorous Interpretation and Monger in Dramatic Interpretation.

In addition, sophomore Maya Haugen will be competing in Storytelling, a supplemental category which did not require qualification, and seventh-grader Oliver Berg from Delano will compete at the Middle School National Tournament in Storytelling. Berg is hoping to follow in Haugen’s footsteps, as she was the Middle School National Storytelling Champion in 2022.

All four of these Orono speakers also qualified for state this year, with Dore placing second in Creative Expression, Berg placing eighth in Creative Expression, and Haugen placing seventh in Storytelling. Additionally, Monger and Dore also competed at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) earlier this spring. Monger advanced to the quarterfinals in Program Oral Interpretation, and Dore advanced to the quarterfinals in Humorous Interpretation.

The NSDA national tournament features 6700 high school and middle school students from 1,500 schools from around the country competing on the biggest stage to be a national champion in their categories.