State was the final destination for the 2020 Oral Interp season. Rather, it was the final “Virtual Destination” for this season. Yes, it has been quite the season with many unknowns. But, we as The Oral Interp Community in South Dakota, knew we would continue on. We went into this season knowing it was going to be a different type of challenge from the get-go.

With the threat of COVID, there was not going to be an oral interp meet competition in-person anytime in the foreseeable future of this 2020 season. So, the South Dakota Speech Advisory Committee got together and really did an amazing job at coming up with how we could continue on competing virtually. The season did carry on. It started out shaky as no one really had ever done this before in the Intep community. But, after a couple of virtual meets via Tabroom, all was well.

The students received feedback from the judges after they had viewed the Oral Interp Videos. It was nice to have the feedback available from the previous meets as the students needed that feedback to perfect their performances for the local Oral Interp meet. The local meet was held in Wagner while keeping social distancing guidelines and it worked out wonderfully.

The winners from the local meet then went on to compete at the Region festival virtually. The students advancing to the region contest were Presley Slaba, Jackson Rolston, Mackenzie Roberts, Michelle Soukup, Jenny Barnett, and Kallen Kafka. The top ranking students then advanced to the state meet.

Taking on state virtually was Kallen Kafka in the Serious Category, Michelle Soukup in Non-O, Jackson Rolston in Humorous, Mackenzie Roberts in Storytelling, and Jenny Barnett in Poetry. Each performance was judged by 3 different judges. The judges all scored them and if the performer received 2 out of 3 of the judges superior rankings, they would place Superior at the state meet. Superior is a state placing in Oral Interp.

Placing superior was Kallen Kafka with “Hit and Run” in the serious category. The judges stated, “ I love the depth and range of your vocal abilities!” and, “You are such a talented actor.” Kallen had a great season and worked hard on this performance. The State superior was a long time in the making for Kallen. All of his hard work and dedication really paid off this season. It is a great wrap-up to his senior year in Oral Interp.

Also placing superior at state was Jenny Barnett with her poetry performance of a “Collection of Poetry based on Love.” Jenny really took to the poems she selected for this performance. The judges were very pleased with her performance. They noted her “passion” at delivering her pieces. They were also very pleased with her “effective selection and performance.” Jenny did a great job this season and we look forward to having her on the Wagner Oral Interp team throughout her high school career.

We’d like to thank all of our 2020 performers for taking on this odd, but very rewarding season. It is because of all of our interp students that we were able to call this season a success.