Dear Parent,

Your child has indicated an interest to participate in the State Speech

Contest. This is a contest in which middle school students memorize a script or
participate in a special event called improv duet acting. 5th graders may
participate in Choral Reading; 6th graders may participate in solos, duets, or small
groups, and 7th/8th graders may participate in solos, duets, small groups, or improv
(with previous contest experience).

Practices will be after school one night a week beginning September 28th. The

students will be able to stay after school next week(see attached schedule) in order to pick
out their pieces. Again this year your child will have a scheduled practice, and it will be the
same each week. Practices are divided into 20 minute sessions between 3:00 and 4:00 P.M.
If there is a problem with scheduling practice after school, Im sure we will be able to work
something out. Also, basketball players, cheerleaders, cross-country runners, softball
players, and baseball players are able to participate and still attend practice for their sports.
Students who sign up for Improv will need to be able to practice on Fridays after
school and Choral Reading will practice Tuesday after school. This time could change
based on the number of participants.

Cost There is an entry fee of $7.00 for each event ($5.00 for Choral Reading) your child
chooses to enter. This fee must be turned in with your childs contract. Your child
may not enter more than 3 different events. This fee is in addition to the $15 school activity
fee for middle school speech.

Eligibilty Your child must comply with the state IESA rules and regulations which means
he must be eligible at the time of contest. We further require that if he/she becomes
ineligible during the practice period, the second time he/she is ineligible, he will not
participate at contest. (Eligibility is monitored during the practice weeks.) Preparing for
this contest takes a lot of time, and if your child has any problems with grades, please
be aware of the added time the practices, etc. would involve.

Contract We require that every student who would like to participate must sign the
contract that accompanies this letter. This is to make it very clear exactly what
responsibilities each student has when they participate in the speech program. Please
go over this contract carefully, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact Mrs.
Rice during school hours at 925-3823 x424 or by email heather.rice@d702.org.

HELPING PARENTS If you would be interested in helping me one day a week after
school by listening to students, please fill out and send to school the attached form.
Without you, these students would have a very tough time properly preparing for
contest. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE EXPERIENCE. Most of your job will be to use
common sense in what you see and hear. PLEASE SEND THE ATTACHED FORM BACK IF
YOU ARE INTERESTED, AND I WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU.

Sincerely,
Heather Rice and Margi Csesznegi
Speech Coaches
************Your child must sign up by Thursday, September 17th as I need to arrange and send the
information to the state. ****************