JBS Speech Team Enjoys Successful Year

This year has been a very successful one for The June Buchanan School speech team!  While the high school team only had four active members, each of these students made outstanding contributions to their team.  Team members include sophomores Sadie Haigler, Claire Hovee, and Jesse Yeary, and junior Victoria Short.

Team members practiced diligently from the beginning of the school year to prepare for upcoming competitions.  The team competed in two invitation tournaments early on in the season.  After receiving feedback from these competitions at Danville High School and Assumption High School, the JBS speech team worked to improve their performances before regional competition.

All the hard work paid off when each member of the JBS speech team advanced to state competition!  Sadie Haigler and Claire Hovee advanced as a team in Duo Interpretation, Jesse Yeary advanced in Prose, and Victoria Short advanced in both Prose and Oratory.

The state speech tournament was held at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky on March 12-13.  The four Crusaders represented JBS well, and Victoria Short made it to the semi-finals in both of her events.  At the close of the tournament, JBS was named the top Small Division School—quite an accomplishment for such a small team!

Coach Karen Bailey states, “I am so proud of our team, and also proud of our region’s students as they prepare themselves to be speakers and leaders. At each performance, students are sharpening their speaking skills and creative talents in such a bold and daring way. It’s not always easy to speak in front of your peers and judges, but I feel that our students are taking the necessary steps to prepare themselves for the workforce by developing these necessary skills.”

The June Buchanan School has a total of 48 high school students who participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.  Students on the JBS speech team participate in additional extracurricular activities such as academics, drama, piano, basketball, and choir. While participating in these activities, the speech team maintains a combined GPA of 3.7.  Congratulations to these outstanding students for their accomplishments this year!