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A year after the coronavirus pandemic canceled their 2020 state tournament, Luverne speech students returned with a vengeance, winning the Section 3A Speech Championship and qualifying six for Saturday’s state meet.
To celebrate their achievements Friday, speech team members climbed into the Luverne Trolley and followed the Luverne Volunteer Fire Department trucks through town.
They included seniors and team captains Josie Golla and Xavier Carbonneau, juniors Luke Thorson and Chance Tunnissen, sophomore Parker Carbonneau, and seventh-grader Zander Carbonneau.
The escort has become a community tradition to send students off to tournaments in the Twin Cities and to join other speech qualifiers of Class A at in-person state tournaments.
However, the Luverne students never left town Friday. Instead they competed the next day from the familiar surroundings of Luverne High School in a virtual competition using Zoom.
The 2021 speech season was completed through recordings and later through Zoom at the local high schools due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
First-time state speech participant Golla said the classroom setting suited her well for competition.
“It’s what we have done every week … in the same room all season … so we are comfortable in the room,” she said. “It’s been really nice to have the consistent focal points and where to go.”
Golla has competed in speech since the seventh grade.
“This is only the second time competing in the section tournament so I was not expecting to go on to state with this,” she said. “It’s very nice to know my hard work has paid off and I get to go to the state tournament.”
The 2021 tournament is also Thorson’s first state appearance in his four years on the team.
“It feels like a big achievement,” he said. “I came close in my eighth-grade year, I got sixth in sections so I was only three slots out. It was a big blow. Then I came back this year because last year was gone.”
Thorson competes in humorous interpretation and competing virtually has giving him a learning curve.
“It is not quite the same as being in person because things seem a bit funnier in person actually,” he said. “Now I can say this line and I can look at the lamp in the back of the room because it has the best angle to see my facial expressions. That’s a good thing.”
Xavier Carbonneau broke a personal trend at the section tournament, where the top three students in each of the categories are able to move on to the state meet. Saturday was his first and only state speech meet.
“I feel accomplished,” he said. “I’ve gotten fourth a lot of years so it is nice to finally break that trend.”
This year is Xavier’s sixth year on the team and he admits the speech experience is different this year since he and his teammates didn’t travel on buses to other schools, mingle and become friends with other students, which is different this year with no in-person tournaments.
“They are just competitors not actual people and friends,” he said.
For first-year speech student Zander Carbonneau, virtual is the only way he’s participated in speech and the extemporaneous speaking category.
“Some things are nice and some things are harder like at some meets we are allowed to use the internet now,” he said. “You can wear what you want because you only see yourself from the waist up so you can wear tennis shoes instead of dress shoes.”
Humor is something junior and three-time state qualifier Chance Tunnissen has also incorporated into his extemporaneous speaking performances.
“I think judges like that and also not using a notecard,” Tunnissen said. “I have been trying to give my speeches memorized — sometimes it makes it worse when you trip up but I’ve tried to run through it.”
As the seasoned veteran on the team, Tunnissen has taken brothers Zander and Parker Carbonneau under his wing. All three compete in extemporaneous speaking, and the topics are drawn the day of the meet with 30 minutes to prepare a recommended 7-minute speech.
“The big thing is just confidence. … If you sound like you know what you are talking about, you’ll do good,” Tunnissen said.
That confidence was presented last year when sophomore Parker Carbonneau started his fourth year on the speech team. He met a goal by qualifying for Saturday’s virtual state speech tournament.
“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “Last year I was hoping to make it to state but the season got cut short. I know we are really not going there but it is pretty exciting to be at a place where I know I can finally make it to state.”