To say that this Oral Interp season is a "normal" season is an understatement. The 2020 Oral Interp Season has been anything but normal. The Oral interp students have been put to the ultimate test this season in performing virtually for all of their meets. This is a challenge when a typical season would involve the speakers performing live and in front of a real audience. But, with the arrival of COVID, the season had to change. That is, it had to change, but still carry on.

The nice thing about Oral Interp is that the contestants are able to perform from different locations and meet in one "room" via zoom. This is a challenge for the kids, but they have successfully pulled it off. While in quarantine or in phase 3 at school, the contestants have to practice via Zoom as well. They meet with their coaches virtually and practice from there. The biggest challenge is the duets. The contestants contest performances are not allowed to be performed while in the same room. These kids have had to rethink the way they perform together from two different locations. At first, it was really hard to come up with a good way of doing this, but the students have been very creative and have put on great performances.

The audience is another part of performing that these contestants have been missing. The acting and performing from these speakers is driven by the response from their audience. Instead of an audience, they are performing to a video camera or a computer and there is no response there. This has been an adjustment, but the kids have handled this well. They have had to overcome many obstacles this season, but are powering through them.

Their first meet took place virtually with the Sioux Falls Lincoln Stars and Stripes Oral Interp Contest. The contestants had to record themselves and then the coaches had to put the videos into a video format where the judges could log on and view and judge their performances. Wagner had the following entries,

Serious:

* Jennifer Barnett - "Addy and Me" By: Ronald Micci

* Presley Slaba - "Ice Cream for Dinner" By: DonnaMarie Vaughan

* Kallen Kafka - "Hit and Run: By: Lurlene McDaniel Humor:

* Caleb Zephier - "Accumulating Cats" By: Kelly Meadows

* Trenton Rolston - "I Hate Pigeons" By: Anne Hughes

* Jackson Rolston - "Jogging with My Wife" By: Bradley Walton

Poetry:

* Jennifer Barnett - A Collection of Poems based on Love

Non- Original Oratory:

* Michelle Soukup - "The Mindless Menace of Violence in America" By: Robert Kennedy

Duet:

* Vincent Bechen/Caleb Zephier - "Just Cloning Around" - By: David Burton

* Jackson Rolston/Presley Slaba - "1-800" By: Joseph Sorrentino

Story Telling:

* Mackenzie Roberts - The story of the villain in Rapunzel

Placing at this meet were:

~Michelle Soukup in the Non-Original Oratory category with her Speech, " She places second.

~Jenny Barnett in the Poetry category with her performance of "Poetry based on Love." She placed second.

~Mackenzie Roberts in the Storytelling category with her performance of "Rapunzel." She places third.

This is a great accomplishment for our first virtual meet. The home Oral Interp meet is set for November 2nd at Wagner School starting at 6 p.m.