Forensics is competitive speech, debate and drama for students and can be taken as either a class or an extra-curricular.

“You can join the class, not the extra-curricular, which means there’s a grade attached to your outside-class activities,” Forensics teacher Codi Fenwick said. “It’s very similar to band and other music classes, if you do your best and follow the general guidelines you can do really well. They’re completion grades.”

Students joining the extra-curricular spend time out of class preparing for tournaments. They must also sign up for tournaments ahead of time.

Forensics competitions start in January and continue through May. The first pre-season meeting will be Nov. 13 during seminar with an additional parent meeting Nov. 15.

“We’ll encourage people to start getting their pieces and preparing them because our first competition is the second weekend after we come back from Winter break,” Fenwick said. “We really need to start preparing before the class starts.”

Major events students can participate in are the Art Walk, spring showcase and Student Congress. There are also opportunities for National Qualifiers.

“There are so many benefits to forensics,” Fenwick said. “One of them is self-confidence, believing in yourself or even challenging yourself and seeing that you can accomplish it.”

Fenwick said Forensics is a safe place for students to build experience with public speaking.

“Instead of starting at no experience after high school and trying to get a job, you might as well get some experience in high school so you have a foundation to build off of,” Fenwick said.

According to Fenwick, Forensics is to help students find their voice.

“It’s not just what you have to say, but how you say it and the combination thereof which is a great skill to have,” Fenwick said.

Fenwick said there is a place or event for everybody, whether it be performers, actors, readers, or speakers.

“You have to represent yourself, your team, and your school well,” Fenwick said.

21kboyle@usd489.com