For a lot of high school students, the ability to expand upon their knowledge ends at the bell. A select few, however, choose to stay after school and put in some extra time to refine some of the smaller points of their knowledge. You’ll find people like this at the meetings of the forensics club, an extracurricular activity that meets after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Many students may be interested in forensics, but not know what is involved, what the requirements are, or how to get involved. Fortunately, the several students who were already involved had a lot of light to shed on the situation.
Forensics is almost completely student-run and is divided up into two main categories: speech and debate. Hunter Lantzman, one of the officers, described the material as “anything from poetry to a three-on-three style debate.”
The subjects of the debates are not held back from the real-time, relevant issues of today, either, as you may expect they would be. They were described by Lantzman as “political” and “issues that concern a lot of the world.”
Competition is a big part of forensics, also. They compete on three different levels: regional, state, and national. There are several different events in the fields of both speech and debate on a variety of different topics, so all the speeches aren’t just poetry, and all the debates aren’t just three-on-three. Lantzman explained part of his motivation for joining forensics, “I enjoy arguing with people,”
Sriparna Sen, another officer who serves double duty as the treasurer, explained her motives for joining forensics, “I was really interested in acting. I loved doing musical when I was in middle school, so I thought if there was a way I could continue this passion for acting.”
As for the requirements for forensics, there are none. Many participants came into the club simply because they want to improve their public speaking. Others just stumble into the club because they didn’t have anything better to do.
Lantzman described some of the entry-level participants as “being incredibly scared of public speaking” and also added, “public speaking is a great skill to have throughout your entire life, and it’s one that can definitely be gained from forensics.”
It doesn’t matter the intentions or reasons for joining a club like forensics because everyone who joined enhanced their knowledge in one way or another, anything from acting to public speaking.