Ronan High School takes high honors for state debate
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ENNIS – In a transformative tale of being the proverbial class clown to a leader in the academic pack, Ronan High School Speech and Debate took home high honors at the state tournament held in Ennis Jan. 30.
The team took home third place.
“We couldn’t be more proud,” said head coach Amy Miller. “These kids have shown incredible drive and determination to meet their individual team goals.”
Ronan claimed two state championships in individual events. Jessie Lewis took first in Spontaneous Oral Interpretation of Literature, and Daniel Koehler was first place in Serious Oral Interpretation.
In Humorous Oral Interpretation, Ryan Dresen took third place, Roman Hall took fourth place, and Samantha Friedlander was a semifinalist. Alejandro Segura took fifth place in Memorized Public Address.
Kail Cheff and Eli Carey showed special talent. The state tournament was only the third time Cheff competed in Extemporaneous Speaking, but he managed a fifth place finish. Carey was supposed to be an alternate, but had to substitute in because of unexpected circumstances. Carey earned seventh place.
Team member Samantha Metzger competed in Original Oratory, but missed semifinals on a tie-breaker.
The strong finish comes after the team decided to buckle down and get serious two years ago, Miller told Ronan School Board members in January.
“We’re really working hard to rebrand our program,” Miller said. “We’ve made a lot of changes in the past two years. We’ve kind of had this brand image of the team that has a lot of costumes and does a lot of Saturday Night Live skits, but last year as a team we got kind of tired of watching Missoula Loyola winning every meet we went to. Missoula Loyola has been the champions in debate for the last 33 years, and we thought it would be some awesome comeuppance if Ronan was the team to unseat them. We are making some pretty significant strides toward that goal.”
Unseating the state’s speech powerhouse will likely take a few more years, Miller said. Missoula Loyola has a team that is 40 kids strong, whereas Ronan has roughly two dozen, though it is more than the four students that competed last year for the Chiefs.
Miller said the team is actively trying to recruit and grow. It has also completely stopped competing in drama because the event has largely died out in the western part of Montana.
“We could do drama and take home a trophy every week because we would be the only team competing, but we chose to go the hard route,” Miller said.
Instead of acting silly and spouting off Shakespeare, students are writing speeches about the living wage in the United States, the demilitarization of Earth’s oceans, women’s issues, gender issues, and cultural appropriation.
“We’re tackling some tough real world issues, in the rigor of what we are doing,” Miller said. “Our kids have gone into this, they are on fire for it, and they want to do the hard work.”
The school has also joined the National Forensics League, which opens up opportunities for students to earn credit from certain colleges for winning some high-level honors.
The Chiefs and Maidens move into the 2015-2016 with a strong team and a lot of interest in the developing program.
“We did really well, but we have great potential for growth,” said assistant coach Stephanie Swigart. “The possibilities are endless.”
