Numerous individuals from high schools in the area earned All-State individual speech nominations.

At Pella, they are sending three: Mandolin Holmes for her Literary Program, and Micah Criscuolo and Isaac Zeimetz for Improvisation.

Holmes says she chose the topic of mental illness to express her feelings through poetry and prose.

“It’s actually really personal to me because I’ve struggled with mental illness myself and I know a lot of people who have mental illness,” she says. “I feel like there’s a lot of stigma, especially about teenagers, so the pieces had a lot to do with mental illness relating to teens.”

The senior Criscuolo says it’s a fun way to end his speech career at the high school level.

“It was kind of nice to end on a high note, because the last time I made it to all-state was group improv my freshman year,” Criscuolo says.

Zeimetz tells KNIA/KRLS it’s a challenge to improvise in a solo environment as opposed to the more traditional group speech.

All-state speech nominees will perform at UNI on April 4th.

Hear more from Pella High’s qualifiers on Let’s Talk Pella.

The following students from other area schools will perform as well:

Pella Christian:
Kara Zondervan, Acting
Sarah Meyer, Poetry

Pleasantville:
Megan Oliver, Public Address

Lynnville-Sully:
Caleb Jansen, Storytelling