Four Luverne High School students will compete at this weekend’s Minnesota State High School League Speech Tournament in Apple Valley.
The Class A schools, including Luverne, compete Saturday, while the Class AA tournament takes place Friday.
For two of the students — brothers Parker and Zander Carbonneau — it’s their third straight state appearance. Both compete in extemporaneous speaking.
Parker, a senior, placed sixth at last year’s tournament.
“My goal this year was to make it to state and hopefully make into the final round there,” he said.
The top eight speakers advance to the final rounds in each of 13 categories.
Zander, a freshman, placed 11th last year, one out of the top 10.
His goal this year was simply to achieve another trip to the state tournament.
“I feel it is a good achievement by itself because there are lots of new people in the category and they are good,” Zander said.
Junior Roselynn Hartshorn and sophomore Bri Kinsinger are making their first trip to the state tournament.
Hartshorn competes in original oratory.
“My expectations were to make it to state and always practicing to get there,” she said.
Hartshorn took the judges’ comments from previous meets and applied their suggestions to original oratory.
Her work resulted in a section championship on a topic centering around fast fashion.
“Fast fashion is the mass production of clothing at a really fast rate,” she said. “They can go through exploitation of workers and there is a massive environmental degradation with that, too.”
Her speech persuades people to look at how their clothes are made and purchase at thrift stores if possible.
As a competitor in creative expression, Kinsinger also performs a piece that she’s written.
Her speech is called “The Void,” where friends confide their feelings to her but she’s never asked about her own feelings, keeping what she feels inside.
Kinsinger is excited to finally place in the top three at the section tournament. For two consecutive years, she placed fourth.
Her state expectations are different.
“My expectation is that I don’t think I’m going to place because it is gigantic (tournament) and I haven’t done it before,” she said. “(But) at the end of the day, if I’ve actually shared how I feel, and one person comes up to me and says ‘I relate to this’ and ‘You make me feel my emotions, you made me understand something,’ I will be proud of myself.”
LHS placed fifth at section meet
Six Luverne High School students reached the final round in their respective categories and were in the hunt to move on to the state tournament.
However, only the top three finishers in each of the categories earn a state trip.
Two LHS students earned Section 3A championship medals.
Junior Roselynn Hartshorn captured first place in original oratory while freshman Zander Carbonneau topped the podium in extemporaneous speaking.
Other results included:
•second, Parker Carbonneau, extemporaneous speaking.
•third, Bri Kinsinger, creative expression.
•fourth, Jessika Tunnissen, informative speaking.
•fifth, Makayla Oechsle, discussion.
As a team, Luverne placed fifth out of 15 teams competing at the Section 3A tournament April 15 in Redwood Falls.