Bachleitner qualifies for nationals

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Frazee-Vergas High School speech and debate team began last year with three students and head coach Katie Hoekstra. This year, the team tripled in size, as did their number of state entrants.

“I was in it last year and it kind of started out as hey, is anybody interested?” said Senior Reilynn Tracy. “I think we had a good handful of people interested but it only ended up being three people that were actually on the team.”

The trio got a late start to the team’s inaugural season and competed in only three meets before subsections and Courneya qualified for state. This year, Courneya and Tracy advanced to state, along with first-year junior Joseph Bachleitner.

“It was really cool to see three kids qualify for state; what started last year, getting one kid to state was amazing and then to have three qualify this year,” said Assistant Coach Reese Hanson.

Hoekstra had been planning to start the program for a couple years. Frazee-Vergas used to have a one act program, but when that stopped it opened a spot for speech and debate.

“It was a little bit of a process,” said Hanson, who joined the team this school year.

The team went through school board and Minnesota State High School League approvals and then the hard work began of getting students involved.

Hanson is a 2024 graduate of Park Rapids High School and she brought her own experience to the team and helped recruit more speakers.

“When I came in this year there were only three kids so we really hit it hard with talking to kids and just saying come out for the speech team, try it out and see what it is,” Hanson said.

Looking for new members meant overcoming stigmas of what speech is and also the known axiom that to most people speaking in public is one of the worst things one can be forced to do. 

How do you sell that to kids?

“Public speaking is the number one fear,” said Hanson. “I tell kids the biggest thing you can do is get up and stand at the front of the room because you’re already doing something more than half the population can do.”

Bachleitner is a testament to that saying he “fumbled hard” in his first few meets.

“Yes, it’s scary but you get used to it,” he said. “I’ve always been an introverted, quiet kid and I think speech, specifically, it brought me to put myself out there, do stuff that I actually I want to do, speak my mind when I want to speak my mind and do all of these sort of things that I never thought I’d be doing. Come to practice and see what it’s all about.”

“I think one of the things that isn’t talked about enough is that it’s okay to mess up too,” said Tracy. “It’s okay to be nervous and okay to fumble and be scared. But you’re already there and you’re doing it and it’s just going to get better as the season goes on.”

Hanson likes to stress the positive before digging into what can be improved upon.

“After our meets I always make sure to ask the kids, ‘tell me one good thing you did,’ and it’s a psychological thing,” she said. 

Bachleitner credits Courneya for being an example and her success can only help convince more kids to give speech a try.

“I think a big reason why we got even a bigger team is because of people like Katie,” he said. “She’s in sports and in every activity. I’m in sports and every activity and we had a couple more that were in a bunch of activities. So, we were spreading the word a lot.”

One unknown to those not familiar with speech and debate is the variety of forms in which one can perform.

“There is something in speech for everybody,” Tracy said. “You can be serious; you can write your own or perform one that is already written. You can be humorous, you can do a duo and I don’t think a lot of people understand that there is such a variety of things that you can do.”

Hanson believes speech is a very misunderstood activity.

“I think there are a lot of stigmas around who are the people involved in speech which is something that we really tried to break here,” she said.

The rookie team also got to learn the hard way, something they could share with their second-year teammates, like how people warm up and prepare prior to taking the podium at a speech meet.

“If you walk into a speech meet you’re going to see a lot of kids talking to walls,” Hanson said.

“The walls are our best friends,” Bachleitner laughed.

Tracy related a story from the first meet last year where they witnessed this for the first time.

“Hoekstra was a new speech coach and we didn’t really know a lot about it and we didn’t have many contacts, so going into it we were like do we just go in and speak?” Tracy said. “We didn’t know. All of a sudden I see this duo and they start and are immediately facing the wall. What is happening? After that, it was a really welcoming environment despite the wall talking.”

This year’s team had 13 kids total ranging from eighth grade to seniors with nine traveling to subsections where all nine placed and seven advanced to sections. Kids in sixth grade and up are eligible to participate in speech.

The 10 new members provided a framework for the team in the form of camaraderie and an audience at practices.

“It’s been more structured this year; last year we didn’t have practice,” said Tracy. “This year is so much different where we actually have practices and we perform in front of the team and both of our coaches.”

The coaches also come from differing speech backgrounds. For Hanson, the Park Rapids team was very structured, while Hoekstra jump started a program from nothing. 

“I brought the knowledge of the program and she brought the knowledge of how to run a team and together we have formed an unbreakable team and I think the bonds we see with our kids are really cool,” said Hanson.

The team would end practices, but it was not uncommon for the team to still be in the classroom an hour later.

“We’d just talk,” Hanson said. “Which is something really cool about speech.”

Which was a big difference compared to year one.

“It was definitely super small compared to this year; it’s grown and flourished and I’m happy about that,” Tracy said. 

Speech is also a benefit to those attending college or entering the workplace as it showcases advanced communication skills. According to Hanson, it provides kids a needed outlet.

“It’s also important to get out of your shell; I feel that’s another life lesson that stays with you,” said Tracy.

“I think that is one of the most important things about speech,” said Hanson. “It’s bringing awareness to how important everyone’s voice is. There are a lot of things that are silences and speech is doing the exact opposite of that. It’s taking the stories of the silenced and bringing them to light for everyone to see and sometimes they’re hard topics that nobody wants to talk about but yet these kids get up out of their shells and talk about it because somebody has to. It’s really cool to see them advocating for things that they care about and believe in and to have a platform for their voices.”

Speech also provides a wide variety of expressions and within each of those categories a different level of competition and how one relates to competitors.

“For my category, drama, we’re very cutthroat. We get along very well. It’s kind of like frenemies. Friends off the court, enemies on the court type deal,” Bachleitner said.

“It definitely depends on the category. I’m in creative expression, where you write your own,” said Tracy. “A lot of the kids in creative expression are very supportive and cheering each other on even if they don’t do well themselves.”

Coach Hanson draws on her past experiences in speech, which she said was a different, less supportive environment.

“It depends on teams, as a coach I’ve told everybody to just be nice to everyone because that is so important,” said Hanson.

Bachleitner’s season is still going after he qualified for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions, (NIETOC), a highly prestigious national speech and debate tournament specifically focused on individual events. It is considered one of the most challenging tournaments due to its highly competitive nature and the requirement of earning bids to participate. The tournament typically takes place in May in the Midwest. This year it will be held in Liberty, Missouri, May 16-18.

“That’s just one thing—there are teams in bigger cities, like Moorhead, where their whole team qualifies for nationals,” said Hanson. “That’s a goal that I have for someday.”

The NIETOC offers competition in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Duet Acting, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Program of Oral Interpretation, and Extemporaneous Speaking. Champions in main events and the overall individual performer will receive scholarships.

The speech team is seeking financial support to help with Joe’s trip to nationals. Those interested in helping support the trip can email khoekstra@frazee.k12.mn.us or call the school (218) 334-3181.

Donations will help cover transportation costs, lodging, entry fees and food.

Next year, speech begins in December and runs through the end of the school year.

For kids interested in speech, contact either of the coaches. 

“I’m very optimistic about the future of the team,” said Hanson. “Personally, I have a lot of big plans that will help us grow and get more kids out for the team and get them more experiences.”

2024-25 Frazee-Vergas Speech

National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA):

Excellence Degree- Joseph Bachleitner

Honor Degree- Katie Courneya, Rae Martinson, Reilynn Tracy

Merit Degree- Aubrie Aho, Lillian Eskelson, Tristan Maijala, Lilah Ohman

Subsections- 1st Place: Reilynn Tracy, Selene Tieden and Katie Courneya, 2nd Place: Joseph Bachleitner and Rae Martinson, 3rd Place: Lillian Eskelson, 4th Place: Aubrie Aho, 6th Place: Tristan Maijala and Emersyn

State entrants- Joseph Bachleitner, 14th Serious Interpretation of Drama, Reilynn Tracy, 22nd Creative Expression, Katie Courneya, 17th Great Speeches