Scottie Speech and Drama Qualify Three For Nationals

Three Glasgow Scottie Speech and Drama students traveled and participated in the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) competition in Belgrade. Senior Chase Tarum and sophomore Gabe Proctor competed in their humorous oral interpretation (HOI) events, while senior Mason Swenson had to take his memorized public address and make it a dramatic oral interpretation piece for the tournament, as the tournament does not have an actual memorized public address (MPA) event.

The tournament took place Feb. 10 through 11 and by the end of the second day, the three individuals had finished five rounds of competition. Though Swenson worked really hard considering the change in category, he did not make the semi finals round while Tarum and Proctor did for their HOI events.

As a result in placing in the top six of their event, Tarum and Proctor had the opportunity to compete in the finals, where the top three qualify for the Association's national tournament, held each June in a rotating location, which this year is in Mesa, Ariz.

During the final round, Tarum took second place, while Proctor took fourth, both in HOI. During the tournament, groups can double enter, so the third place team in HOI qualified in the duo event, which allowed Proctor to qualify for Nationals. Another surprise to the competitors near the end of the tournament was the qualification of Swenson to move onto Nationals. After the NSDA rule book was consulted, it was determined Swenson qualifies in the sub event-poetry category as he always does poetry pieces for MPA.

The Association is open to all classes of high schools, so the tournament sees the best in speech and debate in the district in all classes. Montana is broken into east and west districts, with Glasgow part of the east district.