Morris High School speech team sends 7 students to IHSA state finals

Their hard work and determination are more than just an act: Seven Morris Community High School speech team students will perform in Peoria on Friday and Saturday this weekend with the hopes of taking first in the IHSA state finals for their dramatic and humorous performances.

State finalists include Liam Eber and Faith Ragan performing a dramatic acting duet along with separate performances in comedy and prose reading, Angela Georgaklis performing a dramatic interpretation, Sarah Crisman and Megan Glerup performing a humorous duet, and Haven Perdoma performing a humorous interpretation.

Ragan and Eber each get to perform more than once, with Eber also performing a comedy sketch while Ragan conducts a prose reading of a story from Michelle Zauner’s “Crying in H Mart”.

“I think I get courage through the story that I think needs to be told, “Ragan said. “Me personally, I have a story that’s on the more emotional side, and it really resonates with me.”

Both of Ragan’s performances are tear-jerking in each way. Her duet with Eber is a condensed performance of “Bunny Bunny” by Alan Zweibel, a story where he depicts his relationship with the late Gilda Radner. Eber’s other performance, though, isn’t dramatic at all. Instead, Eber performs the story of a student taking his SATs while dealing with the voice of Andrew Daniel Harrison Donnelly, or ADHD, in his head.

Perdomo performs a comedy of her own, depicting the many different substitute teachers students see once schools start struggling to find substitutes to handle a particularly difficult class of students.

“I’ve always been in humorous events,” Perdomo said. “For me, it’s a lot less getting up in public and speaking, and it’s more being there and making people laugh. That’s been a lot of motivation for all four seasons. It’s getting up there and going ‘I’m gonna make people laugh today. I’m gonna make them have a better day than they’ve been having.’”

Sarah Crisman and Megan Glerup also show off their comedic chops, performing as two students who only know of a loose definition of the word “porn,” leading to some misconceptions with their teachers and school principal.

Angela Georgaklis also performs her drama, a condensed retelling of Allison Britz’s “Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life with OCD.” Georgaklis depicts Britz’s obsessive fear over possibly developing brain cancer, and her journey toward getting a proper diagnosis.

Georgaklis said she started on the speech team her first year as a shy student but grew into it as she started telling stories that have meaning in the world.

“It’s important to go there and be a symbol for someone who might not have the means to do it in front of all these people,” Georgaklis said. “Me, personally, I have done scripts from memoirs. People can write this in a book but they might not be comfortable saying all they’re saying in person. I like to spread these stories and give them a voice.”

Georgaklis, Perdomo, and Ragan agreed that there’s not much in the way of nerves heading into the state finals. They’ve all been there before and they know what to expect: The nerves of wanting to do well get overshadowed by the excitement that this is the last time they’ll get to perform in the state finals.

“I feel like, well, obviously, we’re nervous because it’s state and there’s a lot at stake,” Perdomo said. “But at the same time, I’m at a point where I’m just here to have fun. It’s my last season ever. I don’t want to let nerves get in the way of enjoying myself.”

Coach Andrea Gustafson said she’s thrilled to have seven students performing in the state finals, and this year’s been a good season for them. There’s a graduating class of 12 students, which includes all seven of the students heading to state, but there are 40 students on the team total and she hopes to have more freshmen coming in next year.

“It’s interesting with my seniors because their freshman year was the COVID-19 year, so we did speech that year all online,” Gustafson said. “I only had five freshmen that year, and it’s grown since.”

Gustafson said she remembers being a student at Morris Community High School, and she remembers being terrified of public speaking. She’d ask her mom to skip school to avoid giving speeches in classes just like some students do now. When she hit her junior year, it clicked.

“I realized how great it was and how important it was,” Gustafson said. “Junior and senior year, I was all about it, and here I am coaching speech today.”

The Morris Community High School speech team will perform once on Friday and then once on Saturday. Those who make it to the finals will perform Saturday afternoon.