For those of you that know me or are a part of my life, you know that I eat, sleep and breathe speech during the speech season. The season starts about December and runs solidly through end of the school year. This year speechies, you maybe didn’t know this, but you were an experiment. As Coach Tim and talk about speech all year long (yes if drives those that know us crazy), we thought what could we do to make the team grow and make the team a more viable team. Team 10- 11, you are that experiment.
The experiment started back in August when we had incoming seniors organize a speech breakfast to get kids thinking about recruiting new freshman and students. It was a great time to reminisce and to dream. It was great to see how all the current members attached to the idea and ran with it. An August morning at Matthew’s, it took flight.
Through networking via Facebook and cell phones, we kept the pulse beating. We talked to Coach Quinlan about doing a senior retreat to unify the team and get things going. We also talked Q into having a junior captain something I did at Coon Rapids as head coach. The junior captain allows for continuity.
We saw, we met, we elected Ryan, Alex, Karin and our junior captain Andy. The season began with the captains hosting the all team meeting in January and getting us united and heading toward what we hoped would be a banner season. We started with a huge team, dressed them in red, and came a calling. The season was amazing with students from all categories and events having a great season culminating with a 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 8th at the state tourney.
What did learn from our experiment? First, we have amazing kids who want to do the best they can, and do. We had leadership at all levels, and we had PHIL! Phil was our man; he rallied the team in his unassuming and professional manner. We all grew moustaches! The moustache rally was only one of the ways this time united.
Secondly, we had dedicated students who would not settle for mediocre. Sure it happened, but like a see saw, when one dropped, the others arose. Finally, we had a pride this year that was unrivaled in the past. We wanted to do well for Centennial, the coach, and each other. We held each other up and moved forward.
The seniors are about to move on. We are grateful for your leadership, we are grateful for your competition, and we grateful for you as people. This time is always bittersweet because we know you have to graduate and move forward. We are sad to see you go; we are excited for your new experiences in college and life. We are proud of whom you’ve become.
Lab grade A+
Keith
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