By Grace Givan, executive entertainment editor 
Thirteen people from the Prospect Speech Team went to the state competition in Peoria on Thursday, Feb. 15 in order to compete on Feb. 16 and 17. The categories Prospect is competing in are Oratorical Declamation, Dramatic Duet acting, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Duet Acting and Performance in the Round.
“I think it’s a big deal because our sectional was the hardest in the entire state, and it was just cool as a team to see how much we supported each other,” senior Molly McDermott said.
McDermott is competing in Dramatic Interpretation and Humorous Duet acting, but she had to go through a long process in order to make it to the State competition. First, one person, duet or group had to compete in the Regional Competition and the top 10 people could move on to Sectionals. Then, out of the top four at sectionals, the top three people received the opportunity to compete in the State Competition.
The State competition will have 18 to 20 people per event, and they will do two prelim-rounds on the 16 and 17. The top six in each event will move on to the final competition, and the winner of the entire state tournament will perform live in front of about 3,000 people, not including the thousands of people watching on live-streams.
“To have success at the state meet means a couple different things: One, you get to share your message even more people, which is awesome. But also, it shows the level of success that [these students] have had,” Jonathon Kaminsky, the Speech-coach said “… The success is pretty amazing that these kids have [had in past years].”