Speech, Debate, and Drama 

Speech & Drama Team Wins 2nd Place at State!

Congratulations to our Speech and Drama Team who won 2nd place at State! We are so very happy for you and proud of all your hard work!

The Power/Dutton-Brady Titans Speech, Debate and Drama Team faced off against 265 other students from 44 Montana Schools at the State Tournament, and took home 2nd Place in the Class C Drama sweeps.

“That was a nice surprise,” Coach Matt Sutherland said. “I was just elated that the members of our team did so well… every one of them got first place in at least one round at the state tournament, and each was standing as a state finalist wearing a medal at the end of the tournament. They did it! Every one of them is among the best of the best in Montana.”

Placing in the Humorous Solo event were David Lehnerz in 4th, Quaid Callison (senior) in 5th, and Eli Castaneda in 8th. In Dramatic Solo, Ema Radosavljevic (senior) placed 5th and Claire Pfeifle placed 6th. In Dramatic Oral Interpretation, Cayden Hilbig placed 8th.

“State is very competitive,” Sutherland continued. “It’s a nail-biter waiting to see who will go into semi-finals, and you’re preparing yourself to have to console some kids because the tournament might be over for them, but I can’t express the relief of finding out your whole team passed through. Then it’s another nail-biter waiting for results to come in to see who makes it into Finals, but you’ve got no nails left to bite. Your fingers hurt because they’ve been crossed so long. Then you find out your whole team made it. And just like that, it’s clear-- the season’s journey is going to have one of the best endings you could hope for… a team full of State finalists.”

The annual MHSA-sanctioned tournament was held this year at Broadwater High School in Townsend on Friday and Saturday, January 30-31.

“We have had an incredible season,” Sutherland said. “We had a very strong group of performers this year. They achieved quite a bit. Quaid and Claire proved their performances at State last year weren’t just flukes. David, Eli, and our 8th grader Cayden had incredible success for their first season in Speech and Drama. And our exchange student, Ema, whose first language isn’t even English, will be going back home to Serbia in a few months with a medal from Montana and stories about long, cramped car rides, laughing with her friends most of the way.”

Team Photo, Left to Right: Quaid Callison, Claire Pfeifle, Coach Matt Sutherland, Eli Castaneda, David Lehnerz, Cayden Hilbig, Ema Radosavljevic