The DGN speech team finished 10th as a team out of a pool of competitors from 73 schools at the IHSA state speech meet in Peoria Feb. 17 and 18. Medalists were senior Charlie Stark with a 3rd place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking, senior Evelyn Martinez with a 5th place finish in Oratorical Declamation, senior Alex Book with a 5th place finish in Poetry and senior Maddie Fagan with 6th place finish in Oratory.

Along with the four medalists, senior Christian Clements placed 7th in Original Comedy, junior Joe Delorto placed 9th in Radio and senior Evelyn Martinez placed 13th in Prose along with her medal in Oratorical Declamation.

“I was so shocked that I broke into the final rounds I literally stared to cry,” Fagan said. “I had a rough regular season and it all finally was coming together. It was such an amazing experience and I worked so hard to get there. To see all of my work finally off was really rewarding.”

Looking forward, the speech team will spend the following two weeks preparing for the qualifier meet for the Speech and Debate National Tournament from June 18 to 23 in Birmingham, Alabama. The events include some that are preformed at the IHSA tournament and others that DGN speech does not compete in during the regular season, such as Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum debate.