Medford’s Matthew Swanson Talks about his State Speech Championship

Medford high school senior Matthew Swanson recently won the Creative Expression division of the Class A state speech meet. He chatted with KRFO about the performance.

KRFO's Jason Iacovino is himself a former state speech meet runner-up in the same category, giving him a great perspective on the honor. Iacovino was an eighth-grader in 1993 when he finished second at state. Swanson is a senior.

Swanson finished fourth in subsection competition and was third in the section to qualify for state. He told Iacovino that he "just kept tweaking" his speech to improve it. This was just his second year on the speech team. Swanson plans to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City to pursue an acting career.

Medford speech adviser Kim Goblirsch was named the Section Coach of the Year.

Owatonna High School had a pair of state speech qualifiers in Ava Stockwell and Sheldon Jensen.