NEWS-CHRONICLE PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — From left to right, South Tama County High School seniors Jimena Nunez, Itzel Herrera and Alondra Bolanos will perform at the IHSSA Individual All-State Speech Festival at UNI on March 27.

TAMA — Everyone who gets involved in individual speech at the high school level takes their own journey, but only a select few end theirs at the All-State Festival on the UNI campus in Cedar Falls.

It’s especially rare for a relatively small school district to send three performers to All-State, but that’s exactly what South Tama did this year with Alondra Bolanos qualifying in Original Oratory, Itzel Herrera advancing in both Public Address and Poetry and Jimena Nunez performing in Poetry.

The three seniors are proud of what they’ve accomplished, and for both Herrera and Nunez, 2023 marks a repeat appearance at the All-State festival. Herrera actually got her first taste of All-State all the way back when she was a freshman in large group, but she credited her elders with “carrying” her that year. During her sophomore year, she made it back to All-State with an ensemble piece and as a result, decided to give individual speech a try.

She didn’t make it to All-State individual that year, but the second time was a charm as she advanced her junior year for poetry.

“I was like ‘Whoaaaaaa!’ Like, that was all me guys,” she said.

Nunez said she was first drawn to speech as a freshman when she attended the individual speech community night, and a lightbulb flicked on in her head.

“I was like ‘Oh my God, this is stuff that I’ve been wanting to do, but I didn’t know how to or where to even go,'” she said.

Her sophomore year ended at State, which is the last stop before All-State, but during her junior year, Nunez went to All-State in poetry. The experience made her emotional, she said, because it was all her, doing something she loved.

Bolanos has been involved in theater throughout high school but only started in large group and individual speech as a junior because, as she put it, she was a quiet kid who finally began to open up and deal with her social anxiety as she got older. She joked that teachers used to tell her mom she needed to talk more in class, and now, they’re finally instructing her to tone it down a bit.

“That’s why I like the idea of trying something new and coming out of my shell,” she said. “This year, when I All-Stated, I was really happy because the piece that I All-Stated with, it was something that I really connected to and I wrote it myself.”

Bolanos initially preferred poetry over original oratory, but she changed course and drew from her own experiences growing up with her father and detailing their complicated relationship. She was understandably nervous to share it with others, but delivering the speech has become therapeutic in a way.

Herrera is going out with a bang this year as a double All-State qualifier, and although she didn’t write either of her selections, they’ve both become personal to her as well. Her poems this year, dedicated to her mother, were “Accents” by Denice Frohman and “Translation for Mama” by Richard Blanco.

“I knew since last year that my entire theme for poetry was going to revolve around my mom,” she said. “I had finished up All-State and I found this poem and I was like (gasping) ‘I’m gonna do this next year,’ and since then, I’ve been stuck on it and this is the poem I’m going to do. And then I picked one to complement it.”

“Accents” is what Herrera calls a celebration of her primarily Spanish-speaking mother as an amazing lady, and “Translation for Mama” is a way to connect with her pain and losses but learning to live and love them at the same time. The bilingual piece is read in both English and Spanish, which was special to Herrera because it guaranteed her mother would be able to understand it.

Her public address, “Undocumented but Hopeful” by Sandy Rivera, touches on a topic near and dear to Herrera’s heart — immigration. The speech was originally delivered at the Women’s March in 2018, detailing Rivera’s experience as an immigrant woman and her struggles navigating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“We’re here. We’re staying, and we’ve gotta keep pushing forward, and I just thought it was a beautiful piece. And I just knew that this was going to be it,” Herrera said.

The always outspoken senior said she has gained the strength and confidence to confront heavy topics, and she hopes she can inspire others to do the same.

“If I need to speak about something, then I know I can do it. I’m not just gonna sit back anymore. I can’t keep doing that,” Herrera said. “Because of this, I’ve been able to perform in front of so many different people that speaking to others shouldn’t be any different, whether it’s in competition or not.”

Nunez’s poetry selections this year were “English” by Janel Pineda and “Confessions on Gratitude” by Jonathan Mendoza. “English” is about the adjustment kids who come to the U.S. have to make after learning Spanish, and Nunez said it was especially relevant to her sister.

“I wanted to share what she felt as a kid, which was the frustrations of having to switch up another language, not understanding people and being upset that you were thrown into it out of nowhere,” she said.

“Confessions on Gratitude” is a reflection on the sacrifices the author’s father made to come to the U.S. and how hard it must have been to get to that point.

“He’s living a version of the American Dream that people fantasize about and he has it, but he doesn’t know how to feel because he’s not to the point where he wants to be at yet,” Nunez said. “His mom is Jewish and his dad is Hispanic, so it’s like two different sides of refugees fleeing from something.”

STC Speech Coach Rachel Davis is always happy to provide feedback and guidance, but she was impressed with the level of ownership that Bolanos, Herrera and Nunez took over their pieces this year.

“You all three had so much passion for the topics you chose,” she said. “I think there was extra motivation behind you guys because it was something that was so close to you.”

This year’s senior class has particularly excelled in the theater, drama and speech realm, and this talented trio is happy to carry the torch one last time before they go off to college and/or the workforce in the fall.

“I love getting to spend that creative time with students outside of the classroom who enjoy analyzing. But also, I love watching, like you guys were talking about, the buildup to becoming more confident,” Davis said. “That’s one of the main reasons why we do this as coaches is to watch that transformation of you guys, and it’s so amazing to watch that from freshman to senior year or even just beginning of the season to the end.”

And while both Herrera and Nunez admitted performing at All-State for the first time last year was a bit nerve-wracking, they’ll be there to encourage Bolanos as she takes the big stage at UNI.

“Everyone’s there because they’re all great. You’re not good. You’re great,” Herrera said.

Like Bolanos, Nunez described herself as a formerly quiet kid who has gained confidence and learned to be open with her feelings and expressions through speech.

“I’ve learned to just accept that I’m gonna be emotional talking in front of people, but at least I know that I can do it if I know what I’m going to say and I know what I say is important,” she said.

The schedule for the STC performers on March 27 at UNI is as follows: Nunez and Herrera for poetry during Session 1 from 10 to 11:15 a.m. in Center 14; Herrera’s public address during Session 3 from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. at Center 8; and Bolanos in original oratory during Session 4 from 3 to 4:15 p.m. at Center 4.