Milk Maid

A few years ago, the Minneota Speech team fell by the way side. What was once a vibrant, competitive team, nearly vanished. In stepped coaches Kim Gades and Amanda Engels.

They took a young, inexperienced group of students and slowly but surely breathed new life into the Minneota Speech team.

The success of the speech team recently is a true testament to Minneota’s great coaches. Kim and Amanda go above and beyond for the students and it’s no secret as to why the speech team has been so successful.

Minneota hosted three meets this year, a junior high, varsity and sub-section contest. I had the honor of being one of Minneota’s judges for the varsity meet.

When I was in speech, Minneota always hosted a large meet during the season. It was a lot of work to host it, but we as a team were always so proud to put it on.

It was like a deja vu moment walking into the doors for the recent varsity meet. Minneota speech members were showing fellow competitors what rooms they needed to be in and did their best to be gracious hosts.

With all the recent renovations to the school, hosting those meets showcases what nice facilities Minneota has.

I heard several judges from other schools remark on how nice and pleasant the school was. The new concession area looks so great it was no wonder why there was always kids lining up to get in on the goods.

Behind every great student are great parents. Minneota is anything but short on them.

The speech team has parents volunteering to help with anything and everything the coaches need.

From judging to coordinating to running the concession stand, the parents just jump right in.

They are very pleasant and helpful to all the judges and visitors.

What really sets Amanda and Kim apart from other coaches is that they are truly passionate and are dedicated to each student.

They take the time to get to know students’ strengths and interests. That is very important in helping them choose what category they are best in. Since they have four speech team members advancing to state, I would say they helped them choose wisely.

When I was in Eighth and Ninth Grades, I competed in the Serious Poetry category.

The foundation to be a great speaker was there, but something was off. My coaches knew my personality and strengths and suggested I try the Informative category. It was the perfect fit and the rest is history.

If you haven’t had the chance to hear any of the Minneota speech team members perform recently, you are missing out. The students are fantastic speakers and really do a great job. Just like the spring sports teams, the weather cancelled and rescheduled several speech meets.

The coaches did a terrific job maintaining focus and coaching the students to success.

As a speech team alumni, my hat’s off to you Coaches Gades and Engels on everything you have accomplished with the team during your tenure. Good luck to the four speakers representing Minneota!

State speech is a lot of fun! I know you will do a wonderful job giving Minneota a voice this weekend!