Van-Far Speech Team

Van-Far won the EMO Conference for a 3rd year in a row! Below are the results of the conference tournament as well as our success at tournaments in Columbia and Chesterfield. Scroll down further to also see the students that made our school's District Speech Team; these kids will compete at the District 2 tournament in March for a chance at going to State. EMO Conference Tournament - 1st Place Team Caitlin Allen - 1st Creative Original Jayden Kurz - 1st Extemp Speaking... Cameron Jones - 1st Radio, 1st Poetry, 2nd Prose Harley Young - 1st Storytelling, 1st Humorous Interp, 1st Duo Kiera Hayden - 1st Prose. 1st Dramatic Interp, 1st Duo Trevor Winders - 1st Original Oratory, 5th Radio Katelyn Sutton - 2nd Storytelling Vivian McFadden - 2nd Poetry Kenna Engh-Hoffman - 2nd Duo Interp Karisa Hayden - 2nd Duo Interp Georgia Coomer - 3rd Poetry Layla Ogden - 3rd Prose Cay Galloway - 4th Prose Michael Allen - 4th Radio Columbia Classic Tournament Kiera Hayden - 1st Dramatic Interp, 1st Prose/Poetry, 2nd Duo Harley Young - 1st Storytelling, 2nd Duo, 5th Humorous Interp Cameron Jones - 2nd Radio Trevor Winders - 4th Original Oratory Georgia Coomer - 6th Prose/Poetry Marquette Tournament Harley - 1st Humorous Interp, 1st Duo Interp Kiera - 1st Prose, 1st Duo Interp, 5th Dramatic Interp 2021 District Speech Team: Jayden Kurz Trevor Winders Harley Young Cameron Jones Kiera Hayden

Recently Van-Far participated in 3 statewide speech and debate tournaments and came away with many awards for the students. Here is a rundown of our success: Pleasant Hill: 2nd out of 15 schools Harley Young - 1st Humorous Interp, 1st Duo, 3rd Storytelling, 5th Radio Kiera Hayden - 1st Duo Interp, 2nd Dramatic Interp, 3rd Prose... Trevor Winders - 2nd Original Oratory, 3rd Radio Speaking Cameron Jones - 2nd Prose Layla Ogden - 4th Prose Karisa Hayden - 6th Duo Interp Kenna Engh-Hoffman - 6th Duo Interp Katelyn Sutton - 7th Storytelling Jefferson City: 15th out of 42 schools Harley Young - 3rd Storytelling, 4th Humorous Interp, 5th Duo Vivian McFadden - 4th Poetry Reading (out of 50 competitors!!!) Kiera Hayden - 5th Duo Interp Cameron Jones - 6th Poetry Reading Platte City (Freshman and Sophomores only) Karisa Hayden - 1st Duo Interpretation Kenna Engh-Hoffman - 1st Duo Interpretation Vivian McFadden: 2nd Poetry Reading Katelyn Sutton: 3rd Storytelling These kids are awesome!

This week Van-Far placed 1st in Speech events and 2nd overall as a team at the Battle High School Speech and Debate tournament! There were 17 schools that competed from across the state. This is our 3rd team trophy so far this year! Congratulations to the following students who received top honors by advancing to finals after SIX ROUNDS of competition: Harley Young: 1st Humorous Interp, 1st Storytelling, 2nd Duo... Kiera Hayden: 1st Prose Reading, 2nd Duo, 4th Dramatic Interp Cameron Jones: 1st Radio Speaking, 2nd Prose Reading Karisa Hayden: 3rd Poetry Reading, 3rd Duo Trevor Winders: 3rd Radio Speaking Kenna Engh-Hoffman: 3rd Duo Georgia Coomer: 4th Poetry Reading Katelyn Sutton: 4th Storytelling See more

Van-Far Speech Team placed 1st in speech events and 2nd overall out of 25 schools with 205 points at the Webb City Varsity Speech and Debate virtual tournament last week! This is our second team trophy so far this year. Congratulations to the following Varsity students that received top honors by advancing to finals: Cameron Jones: 1st Radio, 2nd Poetry, 4th Prose Kiera Hayden: 1st Prose, 3rd Dramatic Interpretation Harley Young: 1st Humorous Interpretation, 5th Storytelling... Georgia Coomer: 4th Poetry Layla Ogden: 5th Prose Trevor Winders: 5th Radio Our new speech team members also participated in the Carthage Novice tournament last week and our four freshman and one sophomore helped Van-Far place 4th overall out of 20 schools. Congratulations to the following Novice students who received top honors by advancing to finals: Katelyn Sutton: 1st Storytelling (First time champion!!!) Karisa Hayden: 5th Poetry Reading Cay Galloway: 5th Prose Reading

This week Van-Far placed FIRST as a team at the Salisbury Virtual Speech Tournament. Our team came out on top with a whopping 102 points, beating out Pacific who placed 2nd with 30 points. Congratulations to the following students who received top honors: Harley Young: 1st Storytelling, 1st Humorous Interpretation, 1st, Duo Interpretation. Kiera Hayden: 1st Dramatic Interpretation, 1st Duo Interpretation, 3rd Prose Reading. Cameron Jones: 1st Poetry Reading, 2nd Prose Readin...g, 2nd Radio Speaking. Trevor Winders: 1st Radio Speaking, 2nd Original Oratory. Karisa Hayden: 3rd Duo Interpretation, 4th Poetry Reading. Georgia Coomer: 3rd Poetry Reading Kenna Engh-Hoffman: 3rd Duo Interpretation See more

Our first tournament of the year is in the books! Van-Far placed 5th out of 30 speech teams from across the state of Missouri at the Mexico High School Virtual tournament, beating out larger programs from Columbia, St. Charles, and St. Louis. This tournament had over 200 students participating. Great job to the kiddos for adapting to this new normal of virtual competition and for persevering through a tough period. Further congrats to the following Van-Far students that earned top honors: Cameron Jones 2nd place in Radio, Kiera Hayden 2nd place in Prose, and Harley Young was the tournament champion in Storytelling. Below is a photo of these three students from last year's Mexico tournament that was held in person. Congratulations team!!!

Here is how our program has grown in just one year. Everything bolded, underlined, and italicized on the right represents a higher achievement reached this year than in years past. These kids have turned heads throughout the entire year and these numbers help show how dedicated they are in their craft.

Yesterday, Van-Far Speech placed FIRST as a team out of 17 schools at the District 2 speech tournament, beating out larger programs such as Columbia schools, Moberly, and Mexico. This is the first time we have won a District Championship as a team! This is the second year in a row that our entire team made finals and medalled. This year we are sending a record FIVE students to state in April at Missouri State University in Springfield. CONGRATULATIONS to the following state ...qualifiers: Trevor Winders - District Champion in Original Oratory Cameron Jones - District Champion in Radio Speaking Harley Young & Kiera Hayden - District Champions in Duo Interp Parker Hull and Trevor Winders - District Champions in Duet Acting Kiera Hayden - 2nd All-District in Prose Reading CONGRATS to Kiera Hayden and Trevor Winders on being the first Van-Far students to advance to state in multiple events and to Harley Young for advancing to state for a record third time! Further congratulations to the following All-District finishers: Georgia Coomer 4th Poetry Harley Young - 4th Storytelling Layla Ogden - 6th Humorous Interpretation I heard nothing but great comments about these kids from other coaches and competitors on Saturday. They represent their school and community well, both in work ethic and positive attitudes. Great things can happen with just a few kids that have the desire to succeed.

Today our Speech Team won our 6th team trophy of the year by coming in 1st at the New Bloomfield tournament with a whopping 175 points. This is the first time we have beaten our District rival Moberly, who came in 2nd with 145 points! Furthermore, we have now won over ONE HUNDRED individual medals this year after today’s competition. Congratulations to the following for their top placement today: Cameron Jones - 1st Radio Trevor Winders - 1st Oratory, 2nd Duet Acting... Harley Young - 1st Duo Interp, 2nd Storytelling, 3rd Improv Kiera Hayden - 1st Duo Interp, 1st Prose, 1st Poetry, 3rd Improv Parker Hull - 2nd Duet Acting, 6th Improv Michael Allen - 3rd Radio, 6th Improv Fulton Walsh - 4th Poetry, 6th Prose, 7th Improv Layla Ogden - 6th Humorous Interp, 7th Prose, 7th Improv See more

Conference Champions! Our speech team won the EMO tournament for a second year in a row finishing with 154 points, with Wellsville coming in 2nd with 50 points. Congratulations to the following students for receiving top honors: Lynn Coomer: 1st Poetry, 1st Creative Original Layla Ogden: 1st Humorous, 2nd Pantomime, 3rd Prose Michael Allen: 1st Pantomime, 3rd Radio Harley Young: 1st Storytelling, 1st Duo Interp, 2nd Improv... Kiera Hayden: 1st Prose, 1st Duo Interp, 2nd Improv Trevor Winders: 1st Oratory, 1st Duet Acting Parker Hull: 1st Duet Acting Olivia Roed: 2nd Poetry Fulton Walsh: 2nd Prose, 3rd Poetry Lily Boushard: 2nd Oratory, 2nd Creative Original Cameron Jones: 2nd Radio, 2nd Extemp Words cannot express how proud I am of these kids and what they have been able to achieve this year. One more tournament next weekend then on to Districts! - Mr. Oesch