{"id":1422668,"date":"2020-05-29T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T17:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/?p=478576"},"modified":"2020-05-29T14:49:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T20:49:56","slug":"speech-stars-from-eagle-county-schools-learning-to-stand-and-deliver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/local-news\/speech-stars-from-eagle-county-schools-learning-to-stand-and-deliver\/","title":{"rendered":"Speech stars from Eagle County Schools learning to stand and deliver"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/05\/SpeechNationalQualifiers-vdn-052920-4-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Eagle Valley team captain Jake Papadopoulos qualified for the nationals with Riley Dudley in Public Forum Debate.<\/strong><br \/><em>Special to the Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In this school year of firsts, local high schools qualified a record number of competitors for the speech and debate nationals.<\/p>\n<p>Battle Mountain High School qualified five total students, four of them seniors, for nationals. Eagle Valley High Schools qualified three students for nationals on the heels of another state title.<\/p>\n<p>The thing about that is this: Slam dunking is a perishable skill. If you\u2019re eloquent and intelligent, you\u2019re eloquent and intelligent forever.<\/p>\n<h3>We are \u2018extended\u2019 family<\/h3>\n<p>Speech and debaters learn all the great life stuff you\u2019re supposed to learn from competition \u2014 how to win and lose with grace, how to critique your own performance, how to pick yourself up when you stumble and fall \u2014 and how to do it together.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row vail-donation vail-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/VD-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vaildaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/VD-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe EVHS speech team is a family,\u201d said Kathleen Uhnavy, the team\u2019s coach. \u201cWe have laughed together, cried together, gone through loss together, and grown together. I have gotten to watch these kids grow up the past four years and in a way they feel a little like my own kids. They have grown into incredible young adults who have voice, passion, and vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley bridge the rivalry that sometimes creates an upvalley\/downvalley chasm, Battle Mountain Speech and Debate Coach Diane Wagener said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause we travel together, our Battle Mountain \u2018family\u2019 is extended to include our Eagle Valley \u2018family,\u2019\u201d Wagener said.<\/p>\n<p>The rivalry is real. Sometimes Eagle Valley dominates, sometimes Battle Mountain does. But aside from hearing their own names called during awards ceremonies, they\u2019d rather hear their in-valley rivals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d rather hear \u2018Eagle Valley\u2019 in the top spot than Summit, or Rocky or Cherry Creek!\u201d Wagener said.<\/p>\n<p>Meets are often on the Front Range and start at 7:30 a.m. That means Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain share a bus on the ride down, leaving at 3:30 a.m. They arrive to see the Front Rangers already attired in suits, already hammering away at laptops and practicing. They stroll in bleary-eyed from the trip, wearing pajamas and looking for a restroom to change clothes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we win in that arena it\u2019s especially gratifying for the kids and shows them that those bigger schools of 5,000 kids and eight different coaches aren\u2019t any smarter or creative or talented than they are!\u201d Wagener said.<\/p>\n<h3>World of skills<\/h3>\n<p>This year\u2019s national qualifiers excel in very different events.<\/p>\n<p>Eagle Valley\u2019s Jake Papadopoulos and Riley Dudley qualified in Public Forum Debate. They\u2019ll argue whether or not charter schools are beneficial to U.S. education.<\/p>\n<p>Eagle Valley teammate Saroja Manickam qualified in Original Oratory.<\/p>\n<p>Battle Mountain\u2019s Tom Allen and his partner Izzy Shedd, a sophomore, qualified in Duo Interpretation. They\u2019ll present a finely-tuned performance in which they interpret and choreograph a 10-minute scene from a play or a book.<\/p>\n<p>Anna Parham is representing Battle Mountain in Congressional Debate. About 20 competitors from all over the country will go into a room, a Zoom room this year, and conduct sessions of Congress and argue bills.<\/p>\n<p>Beckett Hyde will compete in Extemporaneous Speaking for Battle Mountain. A half hour before they start, competitors are handed a topic to prepare a 10-minute speech, either supporting or refuting the topic. They don\u2019t know which until their round begins.<\/p>\n<p>Battle Mountain\u2019s Hannah Nelson is a three-time national qualifier. This year she qualified for World Schools Debate in which teams of five competitors from multiple schools around a geographic region of the country work together to present arguments for or against world issue topics. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Family is forever<\/h3>\n<p>Like almost everything else this school year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.speechanddebate.org\/nationals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Speech and Debate Tournament<\/a> will look different when it\u2019s held in June. It will move online for the first time since it launched in 1931. This year\u2019s nationals were supposed to be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and host hundreds of students. Instead, the nationals will be online.<\/p>\n<p>Uhnavy\u2019s and Wagener\u2019s speech team members will graduate and move on to their next adventure. It can be emotional for teachers and coaches after being so close for so long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will dearly miss them,\u201d Uhnavy said. \u201cI can\u2019t thank them enough for all of their hard work and dedication to the program the past four years. They have really made the program into something special and they won\u2019t be forgotten. They leave an awesome legacy behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/news\/speech-stars-from-eagle-county-schools-learning-to-stand-and-deliver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Vail Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eagle Valley team captain Jake Papadopoulos qualified for the nationals with Riley Dudley in Public Forum Debate.Special to the Daily In this school year of firsts, local high schools qualified a record number of competitors for the speech and debate nationals. Battle Mountain High School qualified five total students, four of them seniors, for nationals. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1422668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 16:12:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KKCH - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422676,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422668\/revisions\/1422676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}