“Our first competition will be coming up this November,” speech team co-sponsor Anna Kaiser said via email. Kaiser said the team will meet in Room E111 on Oct. 28.

“During the meeting, we will be discussing with our team members which category they want to compete in and figure out what materials are needed,” she said.

According to Elaina Xiong, veteran speech team member and senior, speech team did not meet regularly in previous years. However, Kaiser said this year the club will meet regularly.

Xiong, who performed a poetry recital at the callout, said the categories have different requirements. “For poetry, basically, the rules are that you stand there and you can’t move your feet. You have a binder that you read from. The only memorization that you have to do is your intro.” Xiong said she has participated in every event except broadcasting.

Kaiser said Xiong’s performance at the callout was meant to serve as an example for the new speech team members.

“Our team this year is compiled of a lot of freshmen, which is exciting because that means we will have these students hopefully throughout their high school career,” Kaiser said. “But because there are so many freshmen, we are relying heavily on our seniors to take on leadership roles and be somewhat mentors to our new members.”

Speech team is also new for Kaiser and speech team co-sponsor Jacleen Joiner. “This is our first year sponsoring speech team, so we’re learning right along with (the students),” Joiner said.

“As a first year sponsor, it is difficult have all the answers to the questions our team members may have,” Kaiser said. “Ms. Joiner and I have done a lot of communicating with the previous sponsor. However we are still learning along with many of our new members. Luckily, we have had a lot of support as new sponsors, which has made the transition into this position easier.”