New Hampton student ‘way excited’ to get All-State nomination

Maybe it was good that Will Throndson was “kind of sick” on Monday.It kept the New Hampton High School sophomore from fretting too much about the Iowa State Speech Association’s All-State Festival nominations that were due out later in the day.“I woke up around 4:20, and I thought, ‘Hey, it’s All-State day’ so I looked online and saw the tab was open but no names. I knew it would be soon.”But he went downstairs to talk to his older sister, Thea, who was home on her college’s spring break and lost track of time again.“Finally, I looked and it was pretty cool,” Throndson said nonchalantly. “Seriously, I was excited, but it’s really up to the judges and I think we had a lot of people who could have gone.”There’s no question, however, that performing at the All-State Speech Festival is a big deal.In high school speech, students who earn Division I ratings at a district contest earn trips to the state contest. Those that receive I ratings at state are then considered for the All-State Festival but only about 15 percent get the call.Throndson’s selection capped a roller coaster three days that started with the state contest at Waldorf University in Forest City.For the complete story see the 3/17/2017 New Hampton Tribune.