Kimpe puts his heart into speech
In order to do anything well, you have to put your heart into it. And that's exactly what Brenden Kimpe has literally done since joining the Minneota Speech team six years ago.
Kimpe was born with a rare heart disorder. Doctors were unsure if he would survive or not. After being born, he was airlifted to a hospital in Michigan.
“I had open-heart surgery when I was nine days old,” explained Kimpe, the son of Joe and Kelly Kimpe of Minneota.
“The surgeon in Michigan had basically invented the type of surgery I needed, so that’s why I was airlifted there.” Kimpe now has certain restrictions and limitations.
“I can’t play any contact sports,” he said. “And I can’t go on a rollercoaster or anything that might make my blood pressure go up. And I can’t lift anything that weighs more than half of my body weight.”
He also can’t consume energy drinks or caffeinated beverages. And because he is unable to play sports like many of his classmates and friends, speech is Kimpe’s outlet.
“Brenden is very passionate about speech,” said Coach Kim Gades. “In sixth grade, (Gades) was my grammar teacher,” Kimpe said.
“She knew I loved to read and convinced me to join the speech team. I started out in Extemporaneous Reading. I think I won maybe one ribbon in my first two years.”
And now with a wealth of experience, the personable and eloquent junior has been a steady performer for the Minneota team. After a one-week hiatus because of inclement weather, Minneota traveled to Marshall on Saturday to compete in the 19-team, 350-student SMSU Speech meet.
Kimpe reached a rare “double break”, in which he qualified for the final in two separate categories, Extemporaneous Speaking and Duo. Jacob Haen, Kimpe's Duo partner, also achieved the “double break” status by advancing in the Humorous category.
“We brought 20 entries to the competition,” Gades noted. “And 11 broke into the finals. That was very exciting.” Kimpe was the lone first-place finisher among the throng of Minneota finalists.
The two-time captain of the speech team has now won two straight meets in Extemporaneous Speaking.
The Extemporaneous Speaking category is different than other categories because the participant has no idea what their topic will be. After drawing a topic, the speaker has 30 minutes to prepare a speech.
The use of the internet is prohibited for searching a topic, but any pre-preparation on a particular topic that is saved on a laptop is allowed. Kimpe’s topic in the finals was: “Is the United States’ economy headed in the right direction?”
Kimpe usually paces the halls at a meet while preparing for what he will say in front of the judges “Speech defines who I am. I’ve been able to focus on speech and make it comparable to being on a sports team,” he said.
“Things like Speech, Knowledge Bowl, FFA and Robotics don’t get the recognition of sports here. And these are the skills we will need one day in our professions.”
Kimpe admits he was “super nervous” when he first started speaking in front of others. But he admits that he still get nervous before and during a meet. “I was really nervous going into the finals at SMSU,” he said.
“But I am able to control my anxiety so it may not look like I’m nervous.” The Minneota Speech team has been improving year after year. And the more success the team has had, the more the team has been growing.
“I remember when I was in sixth grade, we all got in a van for a meet,” Kimpe said.
“Now we go to a meet in a school bus and sometimes we have 30 people going.” Minneota second at SMSU At SMSU, Minneota finished second to Marshall among the 19 teams with an impressive 60 points.
“This was the first time we were able to place as a team at SMSU,” said Gades. “It was truly a great day to be a Viking.”
SMSU had two divisions; Limited Entry and Open Entry. Because Minneota had the 20 entries, they had to compete in the Open Entry. SMSU is a very competitive speech competition every year because there aren't only Class A schools there, but we also see some Class AA schools, too,” said Coach Kim Gades.
“The format of this tournament is three preliminary rounds and a final.” The preliminary rounds are used to determine the top six or seven competitors in each event, who then go head-to-head for the top spots at the meet.
“Before we got off the bus (Saturday), we told the kids to do their best and have a day,” Gades said.
“They totally came through,” Minneota had two entries advance to the finals in Duo and also in Informative. Kimpe and Haen placed second in Duo, Natalie Bot and Tara Thooft were third. In Informative, Sean Dilley came in second and Rachel Engels was fourth.
Others placing for the Vikings in the finals were: Cecilia Rabaey, second in Creative Expressions; Trevor Belaen, second in Discussion; Sean Dilley, second in Informative; Emma Lipinski, third in Great Speeches; Alyssa Engels, third in Original Oratory; Zoe DeBoer, third in Storytelling; Haen, fourth in Humorous; and Rachel Engels, fourth in Informative.
Ribbon winners for those placing just out of the finals and for top-placing junior high students were: Tristan Bierschenk in Discussion; Ella Bot in Extemporaneous Reading; Cora Bolt, Morgen Wersal and Cora Fischer, all in Poetry; and Thomas Belaen and Joey Clark, each in Storytelling. Minneota competes at Pipestone on Saturday for its final regular season competition.