Fine Arts

That’s a great question! You should keep playing because it’s fun! It also looks incredible on job applications and college applications, and many colleges will give scholarships for you to play your instrument in their ensembles (even if you’re not a music major!).

Yes! The Washington orchestras most recently took a week-long trip to Orlando, Florida. Previous destinations have included Carnegie Hall, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Ireland. Currently, due to COVID-19, there is not a trip planned, but trips will be planned in the future. There has even been a yearly ski trip!

They do not happen at the same time. You can do both!

Yes, you can!

Sure is!

Yes!

It’s awesome! Give it a try first!

Both large group and individual speech teams have several coaches: Carrie Tinkham and others

The season begins in early to mid-October with some light rehearsals, and then begins with regular rehearsals after the November musical closes. Most groups will meet or rehearse once to twice a week for one to two hours. Large group season is from about October to mid-February, and individual speech season is from early January until late March (or in some years, early April).

Please contact the group sponsor for this information

See the calendar link below

The individual speech schedule is on an individual sign-up basis

Rehearsal Schedule

Speech is one of the only free extra-curricular activities here at Washington. Thank you to the PPA who help cover student fees, entry fees, rights and royalty fees, and some coaching! We just ask that you help us by volunteering at hosting contest every few years.

We will take buses to each contest that depart from the high school. We will not take a bus to the Kennedy or Linn Mar state contests; however if a student needs a ride, they should let Mrs. Tinkham know.

The contest runs all day (from 8 a.m. until 5 or 6 p.m.). Buses will leave after the final rating is posted and we retrieve our ballots.

Let Mrs. Tinkham know right away. School activities and important family events (reunions, weddings, etc) are things that we can schedule performances around. However, we need to know the dates and times of those events at least 2.5 weeks ahead of time. That is the maximum time that the contest has to schedule. Once the event is scheduled, we cannot move our performance time.

There are a couple exceptions to conflicts: the ACT is not an acceptable conflict. The IHSSA (speech association) will not take a performance schedule request because of the ACT, because students can take the ACT at another time. Also, we cannot request times for any All-State contest.

Students perform the pieces that they worked so hard on! They also go to other performances! It is great that students go see entries from their same team, but speech students learn and improve best when they go see performances from other schools.

Entries at speech contest receive a rating from a judge:

District contest: There is one judge (exception: One Act Play has three judges), and that judge will give oral comments to the performers after their performance.

State contest: There are three judges per center that each give a separate rating, which are unknown to the other judges.

All-state contest: All-state is the top honor given to speech students each year. Judges nominate who is “Outstanding” at the end of the performance day. We find out who our outstanding entries are the Monday after the state contest.

Entries will receive either a division I, II, III or IV (disqualification) rating. Entries that receive a I rating at districts will move on to state. State entries will receive three ratings (example: I, II, I).

Entries that receive three I ratings do not automatically advance to all-state. Less than 5% of all entries at the beginning of each speech season advance to all-state, so this is indeed an honor.

Sure, if you would like! We will take good care of your student if you are not able to come, but you are welcome to join us to watch your students perform. Even if they say they don’t want you there, they usually do. There are a couple of contest things that you should know:

No photos or videos in contest centers. An entry could be disqualified if people are photographing or videotaping without permission.

Do not wear school apparel. The contest is meant to be rated anonymously, which is why performers cannot wear school apparel either. If a lot of spectators come in wearing the same school apparel, it is obvious which school they are from!

Consider donating to the contest. The host school puts in a lot of time and effort to host a contest, and asks for a donation upon entry. We also ask for a donation when we host state large group contest, and these donations go back to fund our speech program as well as our other performing arts programs.

Do not approach a judge or contest manager. If you have an issue with anything at a contest, please do not approach a judge or contest manager with that issue, including email. Please bring it to Mrs. Tinkham, either that day or after the fact.

If there is a conflict that requires a student to leave early or go late, then of course they may ride with you. However, in order to keep our team spirit, we are asking that all students, who are able to, stay at the contests all day. Please contact Mrs. Tinkham if you have questions about this, or to notify her about giving student rides.

Each year, the large group speech team travels to Ames for large group all-state contest to support any all-state entries we might have. We leave after school on Friday, go out to eat as a team, stay at the Gateway Hotel in Ames, and attend all-state on Saturday, and come home Saturday night after contest (around 8 or 9 p.m.). It’s a ton of fun, and students are fully encouraged to go even if they aren’t an outstanding performer, because it’s a great way to learn! Parents are also more than welcome to come with us.

The cost is usually around $60 per student, which covers transportation, lodging, contest admission, and food on Friday night and Saturday morning. As always, if money is ever an issue, please contact Mrs. Tinkham and she will make sure that all students can attend.

Yes! If you are ever interested in providing snacks for buses to contest, being a chaperone, or lending us your speech/performance expertise as a guest critic, please let Mrs. Tinkham know.