Speech Team sent 14 students to the regional matchup at North on Feburary 8, and out of those students six are set to compete at sectionals on Feburary 15, Nancy Stickels, Head Speech Team Coach and Permanent Special Education Substitute, said.

Senior Emily Mathias, junior Maddie Meyer, and sophomores Shayna Fitzershtein, Ellie Layman, and Megan Tan, all qualified and are set to compete at sectionals this upcoming weekend. The team picks one person from each event to represent them at regionals, and the top four from every event advance to sectionals then state, Stickels said.

At regionals, Shayna Fitzershtein qualified for humorous interpretation, George Abraham and Vihaan Iyengar qualified for humorous duet acting, Megan Tan for dramatic interpretation, Shayna Fitzershtein and Emily Mathias for dramatic duet acting, Alex Gordovsky for original comedy and extemporaneous speaking, Sean Fallon for oratorical declamation, Madelaine Meyer for prose reading and special occasion speaking, and Ellie Layman for poetry.

“[The IHSA state series] is what we’re working toward the whole year,” Stickels said. “Sectionals and state are highly competitive, so it’s difficult to get there. [There are] a lot of good schools and teams.”