March 28, 2024

Murray speech and academic teams bring pride to school

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Murray Community High School's speech and academic teams have earned high marks at competitions so far this year.

The speech team is coached by Jordan Grove. Four students partook in the large group contest on Feb. 3, competing in the group improv category. The group earned a I rating from three judges for their improv scene.

The scoring system is from I to IV, a I being the highest and a IV being a disqualification.

When a group performs improv, it draws three slips of paper from a bowl. Different scenes are written on each slip, the group then chooses which scene it would like to perform. The group has two minutes to get sorted out how they're going to perform the scene and then five minutes to perform it in front of the judges.

"It's high pressure and it's kind of crazy," said Grove.

Group improv scenes can have up to five members; Murray had four members perform in the group this year. In the past three years the group had been made up of three girls but this year a boy has joined the group with no previous speech contest or improv experience.

The improv group, Girl Power, is made up of Megan Johnston, Kendra Boles, Kelli Romero and newest member Wyatt Myers.

"Which is really hard, the more kids, the more working parts you have and the harder it is to organize that," said Grove.

To prepare for an improv contest, students practice different scenes together.

"I have a jar with scenes in my room [at the school] and they'll come in and draw them when they get a chance," said Grove.

On the way to competitions, students often make a game plan ahead of time to be as prepared as they can be.

Being a part of the speech team allows students the opportunity to practice teamwork. Grove has eight students representing the Murray speech team at a contest for individuals in two weeks.

"It gets them out of the classroom," said Grove. "It helps with their communication skills and they're thinking on their feet."

Laura Hollinger is the Murray academic team coach, taking students to two academic meets so far this year, as well as an online academic meet in October.

The online meet was the Iowa Knowledge Bowl, with 50 to 60 teams competing from across the state. The top 12 teams, one of which was Murray, qualified for the finals.

After that, the season truly began in January and will go until April with about five or six meets total.

The Murray academic team, made up of roughly nine students, has already been to a conference meet, where it won first place and to the Central Decatur Invitational where it won second place.

A typical meet includes five or six matches with six members to a team and a buzzer system.

There is a reader who, first, chooses a topic.

"Which can be absolutely anything," said Hollinger. "It could be comedy plays, math, science, history, agriculture. Absolutely anything."

Once the topic is read, a question is asked. Teams have five seconds to buzz in and another five seconds to give an answer. If the question is not answered in the five seconds or is answered incorrectly it goes to the other team.

The other team has the same amount of time and the same rules, if an incorrect or no answer is given, the first team then gets a second chance with the same amount of time. If they fail on their second chance the other team gets a second chance as well. On the second chances, the original person who answered the question is not allowed to answer again.

If each team has had two chances and there was no correct answer given, then the question is dead or thrown out.

If a question is asked with no response from either team in five seconds it it also dead.

One point is given per question to the team that answers correctly. A typical round can last about 25 minutes or 65 questions. The team with the most points at the end of the round wins. After the preliminary rounds, the rest of the meet is set up in tournament brackets with teams playing toward the championship round.

"You can't really prepare for the questions themselves other than just paying attention to life," said Hollinger.

Being on the academic team encourages learning in and outside of the classroom.

"It feels good when you can say 'I did it, I knew it' and that's part of the appeal of this," said Hollinger.