The Schaumburg High School Speech Team delivered an impressive performance at the recent regional tournament, showcasing the talent, dedication, and hard work of its members. The team earned multiple top finishes across a variety of categories, highlighting the diversity of skills among SHS speakers.
Mia Jacobson earned 6th place in Poetry, while Savya Patel took 4th place in Informative Speaking. In Duo Dramatic Acting, Julia Strojny and Eseem Komal achieved 4th place, demonstrating strong teamwork and stage presence.
“Both Eseem and Julia learned to tap into their dramatic side much better than last year. Their stage presence was more dominant as well. They had a wonderful way of embodying the characters they were playing and making it convincing,” said Ms. Herrera, one of the speech coaches.
Sanchi Patel secured 2nd place in Prose, captivating the judges with her performance. The highlight of the competition came when Sanvi Patel and Karina Perez were crowned Regional Champions in Humorous Duo Acting, earning top honors for their engaging routine.
Ms. Herrera explained that one of the biggest challenges is never knowing what a judge will find entertaining, so competitors must focus on being confident, well-practiced, and delivering a clear, easy-to-follow story.
She added that through devotion to practice, she was able to see a huge improvement in students’ abilities once they dedicated set times to perfect small moments within their scripts.
“Karina and I performed ‘Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret,’ by Judy Blume, and the piece is about a 12-year-old girl, Margaret, who pleads with God to be a normal girl and belong after meeting Nancy. I play the character Margaret and it was definitely helpful to have another person in the scene to really flesh out the characters and empathize with the dynamic between Margaret and Nancy,” said Sanvi Patel, a senior.
“I’m most proud of our ability to adapt. Especially as you begin the state series, you’re coming to practice often. Coaches are helping make changes to perfect your piece. It can be challenging to remember all the changes but it’s very rewarding,” said Julia Strojny, a senior.
“Tone and body language are two huge things that I really had to work on and perfect to get the storytelling and character development across whether it was through raising my voice during certain scenes or having the right facial expressions. Knowing the audience also helped with the humor, as we timed our scenes to match when the audience would laugh and enhanced those moments to create a stronger reaction,” said Sanvi.
The regional results reflect the commitment of SHS Speech Team members and their coaches, who continue to foster a supportive and competitive environment for students to develop public speaking, performance, and communication skills. The team looks forward to building on this success in upcoming competitions and continuing to represent SHS with pride.
“My favorite moment was getting to see all the students improve so much over the season and seeing how their competitive nature made them more driven to do well,” said Ms. Herrera.