The All-State Large Group Speech Festival was this past Saturday, which means it’s now time for speech teams around the state to gear up for individual speech contest. The district competition will be held this Saturday, and for most of the schools in the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area, that means a trip to Adel-DeSoto-Minburn High School.

ADM Speech Coach Jacque Seidl says she’s excited to host districts this year, and she’s confident the “home field advantage” will give her students some added confidence heading into it. “We love to show off ADM, and we just have a great facility to host a contest. We just have so much space and the kids just really enjoy to be home. It’s always nice to have districts at your own home place, because you feel very comfortable here and so you kind of lessen those nerves a little bit.”

There will be 30 different schools coming to ADM Saturday to take part in individual speech, including Perry, Greene County, Paton-Churdan, Panorama, and West Central Valley. The ADM team itself will have around 25 entries in the contest. Seidl says their numbers are up this year for individual speech, thanks to the state contest not falling during their spring break when they lose a lot of participants due to band and choir trips. The District Individual Speech Contest is open to the public, with admission costing a $3 suggested donation. There will also be concessions served, with all proceeds benefiting the host school’s speech team.