David Kanellis

This scholarship is in memory of David Kanellis, a long time language arts teacher at West High.

His paternal grandfather, David Kanellis, was the first speech team coach at West High.

Last week, West High hosted the annual David Kanellis Overnighter speech competition.More than 400 students from across the nation were expected to attend.

"He was one of the funniest people I can remember," Kanellis said of his grandfather, who passed away when Kanellis was in fourth grade."Learning about his legacy with the West High speech and debate program definitely got me interested in competing on the team."

Every Thursday after school, Kanellis coaches about 10 younger West High speech and debate team members.Sophomore Kathleen Hession, who last Thursday performed a segment from a play based on the children's novel "A Cricket in Times Square," said Kanellis is a great guy.

"Last year, I was the only freshman in speech," she said.
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Kanellis is the senior class president; an actor in West High theater; and an editor at The West Side Story, the school newspaper.

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Members of the Iowa High School Speech Association nominated Kanellis to be one of three featured speakers at the annual Iowa Association of School Boards convention Thursday.His speech, titled "Raising the Bar," will be about his experiences at the national competition.

He also will recite a poem about teachers to more than 1,600 school board members and administrators from across the state.

Kanellis will share the podium with Gov.
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As for his nerves, Kanellis said he rarely gets nervous in front of large groups anymore, but he still uses some tactics to help him calm down.

"I don't get as nervous as I used to because you get used to it," he said."Pretending the audience is dressed in chicken suits helps, but I usually just try to have fun with it."

A+ Achievers is a regular Press-Citizen feature that profiles a student or teacher who has done something extraordinary.