Contrary to popular belief, the Beaver Area forensics team solves no crimes.

Instead, high school forensics is the practice of speech and debate.

The team—led by middle school ELA teacher Mrs. Jessica Hill—competes in a few tournaments per year at Riverside High School: performing play scenes, giving speeches, and interpreting poetry.

There are three to four tournaments taking place in the Spring and Fall. Just last Thursday, the team of 30 middle and high school students went to their Fall tournament at Riverside.

At the tournaments, team members are expected to participate in Interp Events, Public Address Events, and Debate Events.

According to the National Speech and Debate Association, Public Address Events are usually speeches “written by the student, either in advance or with limited prep, that can answer a question, share a belief, persuade an audience, or educate the listener on a variety of topics.”

Some Public Address Events include Impromptu, Extemporaneous Speaking, and Spoken Word Poetry.

Interpretation Events—also known as “interp”—are described as being centered upon “a student selecting and performing published material and appeal to many who enjoy acting and theater.”

Interp Events include Duo Interp—where two students from separate schools work together to perform published material—and also Humorous Interp and Poetry as well.

High school social studies teacher Mr. Dane Schlenke is an experienced forensics student. Participating most notably in Humorous Interpretations in high school, he is well accomplished and admired by many Beaver Area forensics students and teachers alike.

Mrs. Hill is especially keen on his performance, stating that he was “very good at humorous interpretations.”

Humorous interpretation is defined by the National Speech and Debate Association as a competition where “students choose a play, short story, or other published work, and perform a selection of one or more portions of the piece.”

Humorous Interpretation is “designed to test a student’s comedic skills through script analysis, delivery, timing, and character development.”

Thursday, the team competed in four event categories earning many first, second, and third place trophies. Most students only had to participate in two events, but some of the “go-getters” competed in three or even four.

Beaver Area’s competition was Blackhawk, Beaver Falls, New Brighton, and Central Valley. There was a notable number of political and opinion-based questions in the extemporaneous speaking which proved to be a challenge to some of the students.

According to Mrs. Hill, “The team did very well, everyone learned a lot, and there were many first, second, and third places.”

Beaver Area’s next forensics tournament is November 16 at Moon High School against several Allegheny County schools.

See Mrs. Hill if you’d like to get involved in forensics.