Murray, NEB- Conestoga senior John M qualified for nationals in Extemporaneous Speaking. The team will attend three more qualifier meets including a chance to qualify at state, but he is the first member to qualify in an event so far. Nationals will take place on May 10-12 at Bellevue West High School.
Speech coach Jessica Schlichtemeier states, “John has been a natural from day one in extemp. He picked up the nuances of the event quickly and going back to his first tour he competed in he won.” With Conestoga being one of a few schools that offer junior high speech it has given him more experience before competing at a higher level. “I’ve definitely grown a lot more confident in myself as a result of my successes. I’ve also become a far better public speaker,” John says. “I can still remember my very first extemp speeches and then I look at what I can do now and I’m definitely competing at a much higher level.” Over the years he has made it a goal to improve his skills.
Extemporaneous Speaking is a hard event to compete in, it takes a lot of time management and knowledge about what’s going on in the world. In this event you have no idea what your topic will be until you draw it during prep time. You are given anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes to research your topic, write your speech, and practice it before it’s time to present. Being up to date on current events happening around the world is the key to succeeding in extemp.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished. I really wanted to qualify for the national competition before I graduated,” John quotes. With being a finalist at state last year, it meant that he only needed one more bid to qualify for the national competition. He set a goal to qualify at the first competition and ended up being successful.
