Prospect Speech Instagram

The air at sectionals at Downers Grove South was buzzing with tension and excitement as the Prospect speech team anticipated their final scores, as individuals waited to see if they would make the top three in their event and qualify for state. Senior Isaac Friedman, who competed in Performance in the Round (PIR), wasn’t sure the team would place, though, considering it had been really competitive up to that point.

Eventually, they found out their results. Not only would PIR be advancing to state, but they also placed second.

“It was just so exciting that our team got to represent Prospect through our event and go to state,” Friedman said.

Prospect’s speech team went to state from Feb. 20-21 at the Peoria Civic Center and ended up taking fifth place as a team. Not only did PIR make it to state, but many of the individual events did as well: senior Dylan Maye in Dramatic Interpretation (DI), Maye and sophomore Cecilia Deiter in Dramatic Duet Acting (DDA), senior Chiara Stathakis in Extemporaneous (ES) and Impromptu Speaking (IMP), junior Hannah Ellis in Humorous Interpretation (HI), sophomore Tara Morley in Informative Speaking (INF), junior Sage Gilliland in Original Oratory (OO) and junior Lucas DeLuca in Original Comedy (OC).

Head coach Michael Piccoli said that while he was happy for the team to make it this far, the team has had a pretty good track record in the past for advancing kids to state.

“We never want to take anything for granted, but we have a pretty strong team with really strong competitors,” Piccoli said. “I wasn’t surprised, but it was definitely [still] a huge excitement anytime you get anyone past the sectional stage, especially because our sectional is one of the toughest in the state.”

Being able to advance eight different events to state was a huge accomplishment for the team, considering it’s the highest amount Piccoli has seen since he became head coach in 2019.

The preparation taken to get to this point involved lots of practicing after school, running speeches, working on characters and working with coaches for critiques. Deiter really appreciated the more “targeted” opinions from her coaches that she was able to receive once fewer students were competing and they had a smaller group to work with.

“It’s some of the best feedback I’ve ever gotten,” Deiter said.

PIR similarly prepared themselves by practicing every day, changing aspects of their performance and ensuring everything was done by the book so they didn’t get disqualified and were judged fairly. This hard work was ultimately reflected when PIR placed second at state, the best they’ve done in PHS history.

In individual events at state, Maye placed second in DI, Maye and Deiter placed second in DDA, Stathakis placed second in IMP and fifth in ES and Ellis placed sixth in HI. Although Deiter was happy with her placement and to compete at such a high level, she was even more exhilarated with her final performance.

“We went up, we got set up and then we just let our emotions take over,” Deiter said. “[Our final performance] was seriously the best performance that we’ve ever done and I think it was an amazing one to go out on.”

Similarly, Friedman was immensely proud of the way he and his group performed. His favorite run was their first performance at state.

“[After that] we kind of left it up to the judges and we ended up breaking finals,” Friedman said.

With this season being Friedman’s last, he can honestly say that speech has created so many memorable moments for him.

“I’m so grateful that we got to make it so far and do well, but I’m also grateful for the memories that I’ve had throughout the past three years,” Friedman said. “I’m grateful for the experiences that I’ve had through speech.”

Both Deiter and Piccoli hope that with the years to come for the team, more people decide to join because of the possibilities it opens up for them.

“I think it’s such a great opportunity for students to be able to have their voices heard,” Piccoli said. “Whether that’s through a speech that they wrote or a script that they’re acting out, [speech] gives kids an opportunity to share a part of themselves with a lot of different people.”

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