The Forensic Team is back for its 2018-2019 season. The Forensics Team is the speech and debate team for our school. “This entails debating in the areas of Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and the speech part is interpreting literature, like poetry, drama, and humor.” “leader” of Forensics Team, Dr. Bompiani-Smith says.

There is a total of 13 events you can participate in. The first is Student Congress. In this event, students debate the pros and cons of student-written legislation in a mock congress session.

Second is is the Lincoln-Douglas Debate which is a one-on-one debate with a topic that deals with values and philosophy more than fact.

Next is the Public Forum Debate, which is a partner debate that deals with current issues in the news. After that, there is the Original Oratory conceive, compose, and memorize a 7-10 minute speech on a topic that they can choose.

Then is Prose and Poetry where students will act out a story or play, and with Poetry students also must interpret poetry.

Duo is a two-person event which is a test of talent. The pieces can be funny, serious, or both, and no props are allowed in this category. Humor is about the same as Duo, but it is a single person event. Drama is much like Humor, but the pieces must be serious.

Next is Impromptu, which requires students to draw a random topic, and then composes a 5-minute speech in 5 minutes.

Also is Radio Announcing where students do cold-readings of prepared 2 minutes scripts or write their own scripts.

Extemporaneous is a single person event where students draw 3 topics that relate to US or Foreign issues and then have 30 minutes to prepare a 7 minute memorized speech. Finally, Commentary is similar to Extemporaneous but has different questions and their style of delivery. Instead of a question, students draw a topic like, “Elections,” The student then delivers the speech sitting down.

“Students can gain a lot of valuable life skills from doing Forensics Team. Students learn how to communicate which is important for helping them land a job, or do pretty much anything in the future.” Students can also earn memberships into The National Speech and Debate Association and The PA High School Speech League. Both of these are recognized by colleges and universities as great student activities and a great way to build your resume. So, do you think that the Forensics Team could be for you?