CCHS’s speech team has been working very hard the whole entire year. This weekend, they have their big IHSA speech meet. This meet is important because it is the speech teams regionals which prepares them for sectionals and state. The speech team has been working hard since August and has been doing very well the entire speech season. This is Ms. Paris’s first year as an assistant coach but she says she “likes to see them [speech team individuals] improve…and it is really great to see them grow and learn all the different events.”

Naomi Love is a junior at CCHS and an active member of the speech team. She participates in several events but right now she is focused on doing OC, which stands for original comedy and DDA which stands for dramatic duet acting. For her OC performances, Naomi makes up her own script and actys out several different characters. For her DDA performances, her and her partner, Sena Ntumy, perform a dramatic scene together.

Naomi is doing lots of extra hard work to prepare for the important meet coming up this weekend. She says “right now I am basically running my speeches as much as I can. I know I go over my OC when I’m in the shower. Anytime I am in front of a window I practice pops and faces,” to practice for the upcoming meet. 

Sena Ntumy, a CCHS senior, has been a part of the speech team since freshman year. The reason she decided to participate in the speech team was because “my freshman year, my friends and I were trying to figure out what clubs we wanted to do and speech sounded like a cool thing.” At first, her and her friends thought that speech would be more like a debate team but it ended up being different. 

Since Sena is a senior, this will be her last year with the speech team. She says she will miss all of the underclassmen that she has coached because seeing their potential as they grow and become better at their events will definitely be something to miss.

The speech meet will be held on Saturday, February 8th. Ms. Paris says to her speech students, “Relax and do the best you can…I’ll be proud of you no matter what.” Good luck to the speech team this weekend!