Slice of Life Day 4: Forensics

Forensics, not the science kind!  Many people do not know what this is, and I didn’t really either until about 6 weeks ago. I knew it had something to do with public speaking, but I linked it more to debate rather than drama. However, this year Mr CJ became the Forensics adviser and put together a team, so Forensics at the Rock will be run through the drama department going forward, and it actually makes sense. There are multiple areas in which the kids compete from extemporaneous speaking to poetry recitation, to individual dramatic interpretation of a text (Hailey’s category), humourous  interpretation (individual and duo) , and duo dramatic interpretation. The difference between drama and forensics is forensics is based mostly on your VOICE, where drama includes movement and voice. All of the presentation is scored on the quality of speaking; individual competitors cannot use movement to facilitate their presentation. They have to stay inside the space basically of a hula hoop. Kids compete both individually and as a team. This year was the first year any of our kids competed and they ROCKED. Everyone placed either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their category, and overall they placed second as a team, mostly because our team was small and not represented in each category. Today they are all headed off to Richmond to Regional Competition. If they place top 3 in their category or as a team they will move on to States. Hailey came out of conference with a 1st place win! But we really have no idea what to expect for Regionals. Already this has been a winning experience, as she has never had to give a 10 minute monologue before! Chalk up another new experience to the drama life!