900 compete in state speech tourney today in Canfield, Boardman

CANFIELD

Canfield High School wasn’t in session Saturday afternoon, but the school on Cardinal Drive was packed.

The 88th Ohio High School Speech League State Tournament began Friday and finished Saturday at Boardman and Canfield high schools. Team members competed in 13 categories — nine for speech, four for debates.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be at on a Saturday,” said Sarah Hunter, 18, a senior at Columbiana High School.

Hunter competed in the quarter finals for the prose and poetry category. She has competed all four years of high school after an English teacher got her involved.

“I was like ‘what’s speech?’ ” she said. “I was really shy [in my first year].”

She gained more confidence at the end of her sophomore year when she wanted to improve and do better.

“This season was a great season,” Hunter said.

About 900 students from across the state participated, and some saw this competition connected to their career paths.

Read what they said and more about the competition in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.