5 out of 5 stars

The audience grew silent in anticipation for the next speaker to begin. One after another, the outstanding student performances pulled their seats and attention closer. An hour felt like no time at all as each performance was as entertaining, elegant, and well-spoken as the last.

On the February 3 at S104, the Speech and Acting Team had their best speakers perform in front a group of friends and family members, according to Shannon Eichwald, English teacher and club supervisor. However, this performance was merely practice for regionals this Saturday, February 4, at Cary Grove.

“[Yesterday’s] performance was all about getting ready for Regionals,” Eichwald said. “[This gave] our team an opportunity to perform in front of a large audience and also [this allowed us] to to celebrate all the work that we’ve done all year and you get to see that [payoff] at the end of the performance.”

Some speakers made, what felt like, every word and phrase hold more meaning due to the inflection in their voice and facial expressions. At no point did any of them talk too fast or too slow and the speakers enunciated their words  like true professionals would.

“The performances really showcased the top talent on our team from a variety of categories,” Eichwald said. “We had poetry, HI [Humorous Interpretation], OC [Original Comedy], some informative pieces, and OD [Oratorical Declamation], which I thought [these pieces] were really brought to life.”

If yesterday’s performance was any indication of how they will do at the Regional, the performers eloquence, inflection, professionalism, and nearly perfect execution should be able to send them to state.

“I’ve seen these people since day one. I’ve seen their progress and they’ve finally been able to take all their skills and deliver the message that they want to. That’s really powerful and it’s good that we got all this support for them, because when we go to Regionals, it’s like the big leagues, [but] I have the utmost faith in these guys,” Neha Praseed, sophomore who performs OC for the Speech and Acting team, said. “They put a lot of hard work and a lot of heart into it and they never stop going.”

Praseed is a performer on the team as well, but did not have a piece for the competition. Despite this fact, she still plans on going to go cheer her teammates on, according to Praseed.

“For such a small, but very deserving team, being able to go to Regionals is proving to ourselves of our abilities,” Neha Praseed, sophomore and performs OC for the Speech and Acting team, said. “Public speaking is such a unique and useful tool in the adult world and even for now so being such effective communicators and being awarded with this opportunity is great.”

No one in the team has been able to get to state before. Coming this far has given them a beacon of hope and the drive to work even harder. Their goal, for now, is to get someone to state, Eichwald said.

“I saw everyone at their best [yesterday], I really did and I think, as the coach, that’s so exciting to see where they go from in august to where they are now,” Eichwald said. “I was just so incredibly proud. I feel like they each brought their ‘A’ game today.”