---

"Lockers. What makes you think they don't talk back!" is the motto of the 2010-2011 North Branch Area High School Speech Team. In Speech, students compete in a variety of categories that vary from humorous, to drama, to serious prose. But all 13 categories involve public speaking. In each meet there are three rounds, as well as a final round for those competitors who stood out in their various categories.

This year the North Branch speech team has a lot of returning seniors as well as several middle school students (and all grades in between) giving us a strong 50 plus participants led by our head coach Mindy L. Lattimore, and our two assistant coaches, Pam Newbauer and Ben Westby. Student captains this year are Blake Degertstrom, Mackenzie Snaza, Billy Mell, Alex Schoonover and Hannah Zimmerman.

Speech meets take place on Saturdays throughout February and March.

The North Branch Vikings speech season got off to a wonderful start with the first meet of the season. With many new members this meet was a learning experience and, as always, a fun time. North Branch was well represented among those placing at the meet. Four people were awarded an honorable mention, which means they just missed placing, sometimes by a single point. Those to receive Honorable Mention were, Shannon O'Brien in Creative Expression, Mark Ness for Discussion, and Marc Lindbeck and Zach Mattson for their performance in Dramatic Duo. Abigail Peno took third for Discussion, and Elizabeth Schmidt came in third for Humorous with Abigail Schmidt taking first. Blake Degertstrom was awarded sixth for Informative and Billy Mell got third for Serious Poetry. With the season off to an exciting start, all the members are excited for the rest of the year and we encourage you to come out and support us at any of the rest of our meets. See www.north branch.comk12.mn.us for activities schedules.

---