ABOVE: From left: Kelsey Hunter, Dominick Lund-May, Alayna Haefner, Leon Yang, Bel Lutterman, Oliver Thedens and Grace Simpson. A handful of medalists from the Fairmont High School speech team celebrate winning the team third place plaque at the MSHSL State Speech competition, which was held in late April in Shakopee. Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT – Several students of the Fairmont Speech team expressed sincere triumph as they brought home not only a state plaque and shiny medals to represent their talent, but several warm emotions whilst reminiscing over the state experience, and the last chance national qualifying competition for those who attended last weekend.

The Fairmont Speech team placed for the following for MSHSL Class A State Speech medalists:

Junior Alayna Haefner, state champion in Original Oratory; Freshman Leon Yang, state champion in Humorous Interpretation; Junior Dominick Lund-May, second place in Extemporaneous Speaking; Sophomore Bel Lutterman, second place in Original Oratory; Junior Kelsey Hunter, third place in Informative Speaking; Juniors Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens, third place in Duo Interpretation.

Before the National Speech and Debate (NSDA) Tournament in June, in Des Moines, Iowa– the NSDA provides a last-chance remote qualifying tournament to enter the best speakers of the nation into the upcoming competition, especially for speakers who didn’t qualify conventionally at the official NSDA in-person districts tournament.

The remote qualifying tournament is a new event, introduced in the past three years, which many impressive students around the country take advantage of. The Fairmont students fought for the final spots as national participants and several were able to secure a spot to compete in the national tournament in their respective categories.

Fairmont Speech National Qualifiers: Freshman Leon Yang in Humorous Interpretation (qualified at districts); Juniors Grace Simpson and Oliver Thedens in Duo Interpretation (qualified at districts); Junior Dominick Lund-May (qualified at last chance); Sophomore Bel Lutterman in Expository (supplemental event qualification); Freshman Allie Streit in Prose (supplemental event qualification)

Students who finalized in state and qualified for last-chance national-qualifiers shared their emotions after the tournaments. They all noted that they came to the tournament with a passionate drive to compete.

“All the speeches that qualified were the ones that put in the most hours,” Simpson commented.

“It was such a goal-oriented year for everybody. Everyone wanted to succeed,” Lutterman said. “We’ve always had that on our team. This year, you can see it spread.”

Fairmont Speech shared that many of their goals had been met after the state tournament. The team as a whole was set on receiving a state plaque for the first time since 2021. On April 20th, at the Class A State Speech tournament awards ceremony, Fairmont was awarded a third-place plaque for the whole team. Many of the Fairmont speech participants explained that they wanted to leave Shakopee with a medal, which many participants did.

Yang craved a first-place victory.

“Before state, I wanted to win. I knew I could win. I surely had to ‘lock in’,” Yang said.

Another participant, Oliver Thedens, compared last year with the progress made this year, “I feel way more proud. Not just with myself, but with the team.”

Students who qualified in the national-qualifying districts tournament and the last-chance-qualifying tournament remarked on their emotions after qualifying. In the last-chance tournament, there are four preliminary rounds and two elimination rounds.

“To make it, it was a big confidence boost for me. I wasn’t sure if it was something I was able to do,” Lund-May said.

Coach Kathleen Walker expressed the pride she and the other coaches, Erik Walker and Miles Duffy, had for the students. Students attending nationals will practice their pieces and speeches until the NSDA tournament in June.