Sixth in the nation, first in our hearts

As the school year comes to a close, a series of tournaments are only beginning for MN’s powerhouse Forensics team. Two national tournaments, National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) and National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) will be hosting their national-style tournament May 13-15 and June 13-17, respectively.

In preparation for these events, the MN forensics team will be hosting their annual National Performance Night featuring six NSDA tournament student qualifiers Monday, May 9th at 6:00pm. The performances will take place in the Choir room (1514) and will be recognizing all students qualifying for both tournaments.There will be snacks following.

“It’s a great way to support the activity and you get to watch awesome performances. We’ve had a wonderful year as a team and I’m excited to publicly recognize our successes as a team,” MN Forensics Head Coach Sabrina Denney Bull said.

Featured performers include Maddie Morrissette and Sameer Kunte in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Brooke Wilczewski in Program of Oral Interpretation, Rajan Mediratta in Expository, Tanmayee Chengalasetty in Original Oratory, and Josh Shaffer in Humorous Interpretation.

“I am proud of our team this year and happy to see the successes and team work of this year’s group,” Denney Bull said.

The NIETOC national tournament, held in Denver this year, requires two bids to attend. Bids are obtained through making finals at designated large tournaments held throughout the year. The NSDA national tournament is qualified through a qualifying tournament where only the top two in each event can attend.

As a state champion, sophomore Brooke Wilczewski is hoping for not only success, but also memories to last a lifetime.

“[Nationals] will be an indescribable culmination of all my hard work throughout the past year. I’m looking forward to making a lot of memories with all of the qualifiers and seeing how far I can get in the competition,” Wilczewski said.

Wilczewski will be performing her Program of Oral Interpretation at national performance night. Along with performances, notable members of the team will be recognized for their hard work.

“The non-stop coaching could be a lot at times, but the hardest part was to stick to my schedule of working at home. I have ingrained in my head that the work you put in creates what you get out of an experience,” Wilczewski said.

The experience to see performances that are the result of work ethic will be worthwhile- especially as a last goodbye for the seniors. Emotional attachments are made with the friendships the team have made, but also to the performances given.

“I have really grown to love my POI [program of oral interpretation]. The central theme revolves around the underlying misogyny in Disney’s movie The Little Mermaid. My program goes to show that women shouldn’t have to give up their voice or stay silent just to impress a man,” Wilczewski said.

The forensics team which currently holds the ranking of sixth in the nation hopes to find success in the realm of national recognition.