Speaking for South Hardin

The Iowa High School Speech Association was planning to showcase the best of the best at the UNI campus this week and a South Hardin student was to be among the chosen few performing. Jakota Maakestad earned a place among the selected few “performers” at the top speech festival in the state. She was nominated by judges in preliminary competitions who were impressed with her prose performance of “Seriously, I’m Kidding” a routine by comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

The state speech festival brings together high school students and their instructors for an exhibition of the whole range of speech, public address and performance. It caps several months of work and smaller regional competitions.

The festival itself is not a competition, but instead seen as a display of talents. Things were to have taken place on Monday, March 26. Maakestad had planned to be accompanied by three other non- performing South Hardin students who scored high in preliminary rounds leading up to the all-state competition.

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