It’s been a weird year in terms of days off. With five snow days and counting Blaine has become attuned to our vacations. Start the countdown to April 11th because BHS students will be enjoying another day off. No, It’s not another predicted snow day, for the second year in a row Blaine will be hosting the state speech tournament. Mr. Eichele is the man in charge of it all.

“The Minnesota State High School League came to us and asked to host because we have a good reputation and a convient school.”

Mr. Eichele is an English teacher here at Blaine as well as the head coach of speech and debate. In just the four years that I have been here, Mr. Eichele has helped the team go from 20 kids and never placing to a team of 50 plus with weekly awards. Last year Mr. Eichele was nominated for teacher of the year and various coaching awards. It truly is amazing to see how far this team has come in just these past four years.

Mr. Eichele explained he was able to have the state tournament return to Blaine again this year because, “ It went really well last year.” He pointed out even the MC said it was the smoothest the tournament has ever run.

Mr. Eichele hopes to have the tournament run just as smooth this year. He explains, “It was an excellent experience and I want to focus on just doing our best.” This year Eichele hopes to return with a vengeance, “We had a record number of students last year. This year we hope to crush that record.”

This record won’t be easy to beat,  with seven kids advancing and a section championship, the bar is set pretty high. But, Mr. Eichele is not worried he admits his coaching is student driven: “Students are excited to practice and come with goals.”