Speech team sponsor Jacleen Joiner works on her computer. Joiner said the speech team will have no further meetings this year as the season has come to an end, but she has loved getting to see how all the members have improved throughout the year.

Since the speech team’s season has come to a close, the members have nothing formal planned for the rest of the school year, according to speech team sponsor Jacleen Joiner. The speech team members will begin planning for next year’s season at the beginning of next school year, starting with current members deciding on a call-out meeting date, according to Mackenzie Misterka, speech team member and sophomore.

Even though no formal assignments for the speech team stretch into summer break, Misterka said some members will choose to take this time to prepare original pieces to use in competitions next season.

Misterka said the speech team members are excited for next year’s season and to implement some of the changes they have been discussing. They hope to draw in more members by making competitions less mandatory and making the team a place for people to come to simply develop speech and communication skills. To go along with this, Misterka said she and her fellow speech team members want to create an environment that is as non-intimidating as possible for new members.

She said, “We’re hoping to foster a bit of a ‘mentorship’ vibe for those who feel like this new team membership is daunting.”