Thanks to the community on speech divisionals

I am going to do something I probably shouldn’t do while doing something I should do, mix my jobs while thanking north-central Montana for its giving, volunteer nature both in specific and in general.

It has been my privilege to coach on Havre High School’s speech and debate team for the last 16 years and we have held many tournaments, from small meets to two-state tournaments, in that time, and the community always has been legendary in its stepping up to help.

That happened again this weekend when Havre hosted the high school teams from Belgrade, Billings Central, Browning, Glendive, Hardin, Laurel, Lewistown, Livingston, Miles City and Sidney at the eastern Class A speech, debate and drama tournament.

Not only did, as always, volunteers from miles around dedicate hundreds of hours judging in the state-qualification tournament, Montana State University-Northern allowed Havre High School to use Northern’s facilities and the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, once again, welcomed the visitors with open arms.

Whether it is a speech tournament, the 9-C basketball tournament, or countless other events, the people from Havre, the Hi-Line and north and south always step forward to help, and I want to thank everyone.

The tournament had some hiccups, so I also want to thank the coaches from the other schools, as well as my wife and my assistant coach, Lucas Minnick, all of whom stepped forward when a computer problem meant we were starting from scratch at 9 a.m. Saturday, but the staff at Northern, the community volunteers and the coaches helped us put on a tournament for which, after the fact, I was congratulated.

That couldn’t have happened without all the help, and I want to say, thank you.

People who are interested in doing more judging have another opportunity this coming weekend, also at Northern. Chinook High School is hosting the Class BC state speech, debate and drama tournament there Friday and Saturday. People who would like to find out about judging, or just find out more about the tournament, can visit the State B/C Speech and Drama 2017 Facebook page at Facebook.com/state2017.