To honor our students, staff, community members and especially our Mound Westonka High School 2020 senior class, Westonka Schools will be joining districts across the state and nation in the #BeTheLightMN movement. Once a week this spring, lights at Haddorff Field will flip on at 8:00 p.m. for 20 minutes and 20 seconds. The first

By Kelsey Rausch For the first time in Westonka Speech history, Westonka came away as Wright County Conference Champion, unseating the Orono Speech Team, which has won the conference for the past 13 years. In each of the past four years, Westonka has seen an improved performance at the Wright County Conference Championships. Last year,

Thirteen Westonka Speech members and two coaches spent the weekend competing in Boston at the Harvard International Tournament. In addition to competing, students toured the historic area during their off time. Junior Josh Nkhata broke into octo-finals, but his journey to the podium ended there. The team had a valuable experience, competing against and watching

By Kelsey Rausch Westonka Speech had a stellar weekend at the St. Michael-Albertville tournament on Feb. 8. A total of 22 students broke into outrounds and earned a spot on the podium. With so many competitors earning top spots, the team scored enough points to walk away with the first-place trophy in the large schools division.

By Kelsey Rausch Westonka Speech competed at the Prior Lake Invitational Feb. 1 and saw great success. First and foremost, the team had over 20 competitors receive awards, which resulted in a third-place finish overall for the team. Most notably, four entries earned NIETOC bids—one of three necessary to gain entry into the National Individual

By Kelsey Rausch Last weekend, Westonka Speech competed in two different tournaments across Minnesota. Half of the team drove up to Marshall, Minnesota, to compete in the Marshall Speech Spectacular two-day tournament, Jan. 25 and 26. The other half of the team competed Saturday in Andover High School’s tournament. Most notably, junior Merrick Gormley came

By Lorrie Ham Juniors Avery Finck and Merrick Gormley have been selected as the Mound Westonka High School recipients of the Minnesota State High School League’s ExCEL Award. ExCEL – Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership – is a unique recognition program designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities,

By Lorrie Ham Sophomore Merrick Gormley finished fifth in Poetry at the State Speech Tournament at Wayzata High School on April 13. Gormley was the first Westonka competitor to qualify for the state tournament in seven years. Over 300 Minnesota schools compete in speech, with several hundred competitors in every category competing to get to the

By Lorrie Ham Westonka Speech broke a number of team records on April 6 at the MSHSL Section 2AA Tournament in Hutchinson, including advancing sophomore Merrick Gormley to state. Gormley is the first Westonka competitor to qualify for the state tournament in seven years. The team brought a record number of 22 competitors to sections,

By Lorrie Ham Westonka Speech competed March 8 at the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) National Qualifier Tournament, where sophomore Merrick Gormley became the first Mound Westonka High School student to advance to the semifinals. There were a total of 20 schools competing for the Southern Minnesota District, with 393 competitors. Westonka Speech had