When she attended SFHS 30 some years ago, Madonna Arnold found her place on the speech team.

After high school, Arnold continued to participate with speech in college; three years at

Anoka Ramsey, and one year at Moorhead State.

“Speech in high school for me is what brought me out of my shell,” said Arnold.

During that time, she got the chance to coach at the college level and later on accepted an assistant speech coaching job at SFHS for 15 years. After having kids, she decided to take a chunk of time off from coaching so she could be there for her children. When coach Mark Thul left at the end of last year, there was a job opening for a new speech coach. Arnold did not hesitate to apply for that position.

“I did not want this program to go away,” said Arnold. “These kids needed an outlet.”

Senior Sarah Wyatt, one of the speech team captains at SFHS, started speech last year. She has learned how speech can impact her life, as well as others.

“Speech is important for any job you will have in your life. You’re always going to have to convey what you want to say to people effectively,”  said Wyatt. “Speech gives you the tools to do that, and to get that process rolling.”

Senior Kendra Krebsbach, another captain of the speech team, thinks speech is interesting and fun. She is looking forward to being a leader this year.

“We have to work a little bit, but it’s not that bad. I enjoy being able to talk to everybody more, and have everyone come to me for help. I want to be able to help the others,”  said Krebsbach.”

Looking forward to this speech season, Arnold has many goals for her team.

“I just want everybody to feel confident on what they can do. I want them to have fun. I want them to be able to stand tall, and go ‘yes, I can do this,’  said Arnold, “I want them to be proud of themselves.”