TEAM PROFILE
WHEN BELONGING TOOK THE STAGE South Dakota’s First Unified Speech Event by Travis Rother
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a universal activity, one that belongs to every student regardless of ability or background.
What happened there wasn’t born from a desire to award more trophies. It came from a belief that speech and debate should be
In the space of this small portion of a regular speech invitational, the NSDA mission moved beyond words on a website and became something tangible: a diverse community empowering students through speech and debate. South Dakota hosted its first-ever Unified Speech category, created in partnership with Special Olympics, under the leadership of Gina Koehn of Brandon Valley High School and Michelle McIntyre of Sioux Falls
t a speech and debate tournament, it is easy to assume the biggest moments will come from the biggest wins or the tallest trophies. However, sometimes the loudest truth in the building arrives in a round that isn’t trying to be the headline. At the Brandon Valley Speaking Lynx Speech Tournament in South Dakota, a new category entered the schedule and quietly redefined the day.
(right) Savannah Koll, a Unified Speech contestant, receives an award during the Brandon Valley Speaking Lynx Speech Tournament in South Dakota. (below) Unified Speech organizers Gina Koehn and Michelle McIntyre.
Gina Koehn
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Michelle McIntyre
ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2026
Washington. The Unified approach is exploding in high school sports, creating opportunities for students with disabilities to compete alongside students without disabilities. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Patrick Pope from Harrisburg High School, who attended the tournament, felt the beauty of the moment: “Gina arranged for a full audience of students, coaches, and judges to attend the final round. The atmosphere in that room was electric. The pride,
the empathy, and the genuine joy in witnessing something new and right were palpable. It was not merely a round—it was a statement of what inclusion can look like when it’s done with intention and heart.” After speaking with Gina and Michelle, it became clear that Unified Speech
didn’t begin as a grand initiative or a carefully engineered program. It began with a simple question: Who isn’t in the room yet? What followed was not a rewrite of speech and debate, but an expansion of it, shaped by collaboration, curiosity, and a willingness to build something new in real time.
The result was a reminder that when coaches lead with belonging, the entire community learns to listen differently.
A Question They Couldn’t Ignore Gina Koehn has coached for decades, and her entry into the activity will sound familiar to many coaches: “Somebody put a box of stuff on my desk and