Daviess County High School and College View Middle School competed in the Kentucky High School Speech League regional tournament at Bowling Green Junior High School on Saturday, Feb. 12. DCHS earned the title of Senior High Bowling Green Region runner-up and CVMS was named Junior High Bowling Green Region runner-up on a day that was highlighted by honors bestowed on Karen Feldhaus, who coaches both the DCHS and CVMS speech teams.
Feldhaus was named Junior High Bowling Green Region Coach of the Year. She and other regional honorees will be considered for State Coach of the Year honors at the state tournament on Feb. 25-26.
Feldhaus was also named both Kentucky and Section 2 National Federation of High Schools Speech and Theatre Coach of the Year. Kentucky High School Speech League executive director Steve Meadows presented Feldhaus with the state award at the regional tournament. As the Section 2 honoree, Feldhaus now advances to the national level of competition.
Last June, Feldhaus was named to the KHSSL Hall of Fame and will be inducted during the awards ceremony of the senior high school tournament on March 12 at Northern Kentucky University.
Feldhaus said she is appreciative of these honors, but her greatest reward is seeing students develop in areas of communication and confidence. “These skills will enable the next generation to speak for themselves with confidence and civil discourse,” she said. “Regardless of how many awards you win or the number of starring roles in which you are cast, your kindness and encouragement to others is what will be remembered.”
DCHS and CVMS students earning recognition at the Feb. 12 event are as follows:
In the junior high portion of the tournament (CVMS), Annaliese Abel was awarded tournament champion in storytelling. Katie Easley was runner-up in storytelling. The improvisational duo team of Kori Cecil and Katie Easley were tournament champions. Kori Cecil finished fourth in broadcasting. Annaliese, Kori and Katie advanced to the state tournament to be held at the University of Kentucky on Feb. 25-26.
In the senior high portion of the tournament, the following DCHS students competed and earned spots at the state tournament: Dixon Benningfield, Delaney Bond, Raylee Brubaker, Campbell Clark, Ella Fogle, Nathan Goins, Clayton Manire, Maddox Meyer, Kate Mills, Gabriel Neves and Beth Newcomb.
Several of those students earned top honors. Maddox Meyer was tournament champion in broadcasting. Beth Newcomb was tournament champion in dramatic interpretation. Campbell Clark was humorous interpretation champion; and Raylee Brubaker was storytelling champion.
The duo interpretation team of Nathan Goins and Maddox Meyer earned tournament champion honors. Delaney Bond and Beth Newcomb were runners-up in duo interpretation.
Nathan Goins and Maddox Meyer were tournament champions in improvisational duo. Dixon Benningfield and Ella Fogle were runners-up in improvisational duo.
Raylee Brubaker and Kate Mills were third in duo interpretation.
Clayton Manire finished fifth in broadcasting. Campbell Clark and Gabriel Neves finished fifth in improvisational duo. Delaney Bond was fifth in prose interpretation.
DCHS students will compete at the state tournament March 11-12 at Northern Kentucky University.
In addition, many CVMS and DCHS students will present their award-winning selections at the Daviess County Public Schools district arts festival in March.
Feldhaus said, “I offer my sincerest thank you to the DCPS administration and Board of Education for the honor of coaching two wonderful teams. I hope together we can continue to offer and even expand this beneficial program. Also, an enormous thank you to DCHS principal Matt Mason, who made the trip to Bowling Green to cheer on our team. It was so generous of him to give up a Saturday morning to support our team and assure our students that they are seen. He certainly went above and beyond. The students were all abuzz!”
DCHS principal Matt Mason said, “Karen goes above and beyond for her students! She is what I would call a ‘superstar teacher’ in our building. She has a true passion to see students succeed. Karen is very deserving of this award and I am proud of her accomplishments both in and out of the classroom!”
Pictured: Coach Feldhaus
Why Panthers shoot plastic rats at Marchand
