Drama. Expression. Creativity. The Speech League team combines all of these elements in an environment fostering literature and theater, allowing students to express themselves and explore their passions in the arts. Senior Alex Esworthy decided to make the most of this opportunity in their last year of high school. In the dramatic interpretation category, they placed fifth in the Laurel Highlands High School Speech League (LHHSSL) Regional Tournament.

Esworthy would describe the feeling of winning fifth place as “rewarding.”

“I never wanted to qualify for Nationals because I’m a very anxious person, so I was excited to even win a medal in the first place, nevertheless fifth,” Esworthy said. “I am so honored to have won fifth place.”

In order to qualify for the tournament, Esworthy had to place first in all three regular competitions and place high enough at two district meets, where they earned sixth place.

“I was super, super proud of them, because they were ecstatic just to get that far,” Speech League adviser and Instructional Coach Julie Storm said. “They’re very appreciative just to be able to make it in the finals. When they achieved that, they were like, ‘I didn’t really care much about where I would place,’ so it was really neat to see.”

Speech League aims to give students confidence and allows them to practice their public speaking skills. With choices of many different categories, Esworthy decided to pick dramatic interpretation because it combined poetry and emotional topics, which they described as “super fun to perform.”

“[Esworthy] doesn’t come to the high school regularly. They do the PAWS [Personal Growth and Academic development With Success] program,” Storm said. “They are very shy, but you would never know it, because the category that they competed in was dramatic interpretation. It was amazing what you would see. Just talking with them, one on one, you never would have guessed that they had that in them. It was pretty neat to see, but it was something they were really passionate about. They were in Speech League in seventh grade, but then when COVID-19 hit, it was just something that they really wanted to have come back around, and it did.”

Since seventh grade, fond memories of Speech League have stuck with Esworthy.

“I did Speech League in seventh grade and had so much fun,” Esworthy said. “The teacher that coached us was fantastic as well as the other members. I joined the Speech team because I enjoyed the acting aspect of theatre, but I didn’t have time to dedicate to a set schedule. This gave me the opportunity to not only perform again, but to compete against other performers as well.”

At the regional tournament, Esworthy participated in two days of competition on March 3 and 4.

“The LHHSSL Regional Tournament was held at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa.,” Esworthy said. “We all gathered in the arts building. The first [day] was for anyone. There were two rounds, and we were scored and ranked. All qualifiers for finals moved on to the second round the very next day. We had five judges the second time as well as 20 to 30 observers. We were then ranked based on the two days of scores to determine the winners. The winners were announced on the stage, and the top two qualified for Nationals.”

Since it’s Esworthy’s final year of high school, they are wrapping up their Speech League journey. However, they are hoping to participate in similar tournaments in the future while in college, and they are grateful for having been able to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I made two friends from other districts, and my entire team was full of some fantastic people,” Esworthy said. “I think the most rewarding experience was placing first in all three regular competitions. I was not expecting first place ever, much less every single competition.”