Tyrone’s oldest sport hopped back into the saddle with its first meet on November 17th.

Since 1913 the Tyrone High School’s Speech Team has been an established club at Tyrone. This year, Tyrone participants walked away from their meet losing the team to rival Juniata Valley, but still managed five individual wins.

The Speech Team has 24 members this year performing either a poem or an original, comedic, or dramatic speech.

This year marks one of the highest participation rates for the Tyrone club since it started in 1913, and marks the first year for ninth grade English teacher and speech coach, Mrs. Leah Deskevich.

According to Deskevich, everyone did an great job at the competition, but five members stood out, walking away winning an individual award for their hard work.

Senior Kenny McKernan won best overall oration for his “House of Cards” speech.

Junior Chloe Makdad won an award for best humorous speech.

Junior Levi Walk won an award for best Senior High serious speech

Sophomore Sarah Meyer won for best Senior High interpretation for her “I am a Kid”

Freshman Brent McNeel won an award for best original speech

“I’m thankful for Speech Team this Thanksgiving season! These students have been a HUGE encouragement to me,” said Mrs. Deskevich.

The next meet will be held at Juniata Valley on February 23rd, current members are encouraged to check their emails for updates on the competition and if anyone is interested in joining, feel free to speak to Mrs. Deskevich.