One day, while looking over mail, English teacher and speech team coach Jessica Kranz finds a letter, unaware at first what lies in her hands: the Logansport High School earned the 2024-2025 Leading Chapter Award.
Every year, the National Speech and Debate Association recognizes one school from over 100 districts and grants it the Leader Chapter Award. This association is one of the largest interscholastic speech and debate organizations in the United States. The purpose of the Leading Chapter Award is to recognize and empower each school for its speech team’s performance and participation.
“We, as coaches, know how hard they’ve worked and how hard we’ve worked,” Kranz said. “And so it does feel really nice to have the honor and for them to be a part of it.”
For Kranz, an award like this is an encouragement for the team to continue moving forward.
“I’m really excited for the season because we have a lot of new kids,” Kranz said. “We have a lot of returning kids and they’re eager to get out there and keep earning those points and keep making those memories.”
Partaking in the work and growth of the team, Speech Team Captain Saylor McClain, a senior, has been a member for four years in high school.
“When I was a freshman, there were about half of the people on the team as there are now,” McClain said. “I know everyone has been working hard the past few years to get the word out, and obviously that hard work has paid off.”
Another member of the team, senior Nathalia Hernandez, joined speech to gain more confidence in the ways she communicates with words and body language. She has been a member since her junior year.
“I’m joining back because of the wonderful family that speech truly is,” Hernandez said. “Yes, it gives you these amazing skills, but it really is more than just that.”
Like what Hernandez said, the speech team is more than just skills, but within is full of passionate people such as McClain.
“The LHS Speech team is made up of creative, smart and supportive people,” McClain said. “It is these people that make me feel better after a bad round or high-five my achievements. Speech is very rewarding and the competitions are always something I look forward to.”
Earning an award is a big accomplishment for the speech team after what they’ve done individually and together.
“Other than feeling excited, I hope that this award will boost our team’s morale for this upcoming year,” Hernandez said. “We were recognized among many other schools that have a speech team, so having been picked will be very beneficial when we face hardships along the way.”
23 years of coaching, Kranz feels as if she is continuing the legacy that was set many years back. Because of the award, it doesn’t stop there, as she believes.
“We are continuing to provide our students with an opportunity to express themselves to become the leaders of tomorrow. To be quality communicators and to give them a platform,” Kranz said. “I think that’s really important in a world where sometimes people feel as though they can’t speak their minds, or they can’t speak about things that might be controversial. The speech team gives them the chance to say it’s okay to speak up, to be informed and to know your worth.”
