Ottawa High School speech team state qualifiers take home 9th, 11th place finishes

A pair of Ottawa High School speech team qualifiers took home 9th and 11th place at the state competition Feb. 17 in Peoria.

Molly Ewen and Sadie Johnson finished ninth place in the dramatic duet acting. They competed with a piece titled “The Wasp.” In dramatic duet acting, two people perform a script – often an entire play – that has been cut down to eight minutes.

Ava Wagner earned an 11th place finish in poetry reading.

The competition involves reading poetry to an audience. In the contest, Wagner used her voice and formed nonverbal communication, such as facial expressions and hand gestures, to convey the emotion and message of the poem throughout the performance.

Each qualifier received third place in the sectional competition to earn their trip to state.