The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
Forensics is the art of competitive speech, not examining dead bodies. Forensics challenges students to overcome their fears of speaking in public. Forensics encourages students to develop college-level skills in research, writing, and critical thinking. And forensics educates students beyond the classroom, teaching students about social and political problems, literature, human emotions, and team work.
Students compete in a number of events that range from Original Oratory to Oral Interpretation of Literature to Solo Acting. There are three basic genres of events: public speaking, interpretation, and acting. In public speaking events students construct an original speech and practice delivering that speech. In interpretation events students choose a literary selection, cut and organize the literary selection into a coherent narrative, and perform the selection with a script. In acting events students choose a selection from literature and cut and organize the selection like they would in an interpretation event - but students in acting events preform the selection without the use of a scrip.
The Memorial Forensics Team attends tournaments around Wisconsin and the nation. At a typical forensics tournament a student preforms their speech or selection three times, and a fourth time, if one advances to the final (or power) round. Students prepare for competitions by signing up and practicing with coaches.
A full description of the events can be found by clicking here.
A complete history of the Memorial Forensics team can by found by clicking here.
This page has the following sub pages.