Forensics News

Public speaking is a big fear for many, but there is a group of students at East who are conquering that fear weekly. Not only are they giving speeches that can be up to 10 minutes long, but they are being judged on those speeches and receiving rankings and feedback from judges. The experience is an emotional rollercoaster with wins, losses and the occasional “soul crushing” comment. Despite this, The Tosa East Forensics team is a group of 37 hardworking people who work all season long — spending hours practicing their speeches, waking up early to go to meets and spending their Saturdays competing against other schools from across the state. All of this hard work pays off, and while the season is long, it is also a lot of fun. Forensics helps people to gain confidence, and to feel more comfortable speaking in front of people. All of this is made possible because of the hard work of the head coach, Mr. Balcerak, who has been coaching for the past sixteen years. Balcerak reflects on how, “Forensics was a really incredible experience for me in high school, and I had a really amazing coach, and so when I started teaching here I asked if I could teach and coach forensics.” Forensics has left a lasting impact on many, and will continue to do so throughout the 2017-18 season.

This year the Forensics team will go to nine meets, both conference and state. The season starts in late January, and extends into early march, with meets most weekends between them. The season really starts long before that however. Students start developing and practicing their speeches long before the first meet happens so they can be fully prepared by the time that it rolls around. Meets start at around 8 in the morning, and go until about 3-4 in the afternoon. Every meet has three rounds, each lasting for about an hour. In each round, there are 5-7 competitors, each one with a 5-10 minute speech and a judge. After each period, the judge gives each competitor a rank, which determines who will move on to power rounds. A power round takes the top ranking people, and puts them together to compete. The ranks in these determine who will win in the category. After power rounds, everyone in the room gets a medal and the top three competitors get trophies.

Forensics has 19 categories, so there is something for everyone. For example, sophomore Brenna Powers competes in Oratory, and says, “I like it because you can talk about whatever you feel passionately about.” Oratory is a 10 minute memorized speech in which you attempt to sway the audience to what you believe. Freshman Elyse Bartz competes at OIL (Oratory Interpretation of Literature), and she says “I like that it is something unique and that it is something that I can tell people about. I also like it because you get to something new each round, and it is a little different from the rest of Forensics.” OIL, is a category in which you need to have three different 10 minute speeches, two prose and one poetry. During each round, you present a different speech, and then one of the three for power rounds.

At meets when the team competes, every person trying to help the whole team, trying to get as many people as possible to power rounds to win both individual and team trophies. On the 31st, at Slinger High school, Tosa East had 14 entries who powered, with three taking first place: freshman Autumn Cortright, freshman Trevor Schmitt-Ernst, and junior Angela Glowacki. There were also three entries that got second: sophomore Maria Serrano, sophomore Abby Slye, senior Ruby Leftwich, sophomore Lizzie Murphy, and one person who received third: senior Kat Terwelp. East also had seven entries who were finalists: freshman Ana Michaelson, freshman Sophia Phillips, freshman Ruby Romant, freshman Lauren Underberg, senior Lauren Chugg, senior Maura Hanley, freshman Ava Beisenstein, sophomore Stasia Raebel, junior Kortney Lorenzen and freshman Chloe Gomez. Overall, East got 5th place out of 25 teams. This was the second meet of the season, with Marquette as the first meet, and West Bend West as the third. East will take their best 25 entries to the Conference meet on February 17th.

Forensics can seem daunting, especially those who are not confident public speakers. However, forensics can be for everyone regardless of their public speaking abilities. Coach Balcerak agrees saying, “Forensics is a lot of fun if you are good at public speaking, but it can also be really important if you aren’t as good and want to get better. It is easier to speak in front of strangers at schools in a competition, rather than in front of your peers in a class.” Forensics is a high commitment club that takes time and dedication, but it pays off by the end of the season.