Blair speaks out

A Blair student made the finals for the first time in the first tournament of the Montgomery County Forensics League on Saturday Oct. 27.

Junior Danielle Prados, the captain the Blair's forensics team, who made finals for her oral interpretation of serious prose says she was very surprised at her results because she has never made the finals before. "It's really exciting," she said.

The forensics members who were able to compete in Saturday's tournament represent over a dozen other forensics members who were unable to attend due to their participation in the Blair production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, or other concerns. The overall placement of the competitors, Elizabeth Finn, Princess Fouefack, Synthia Kasier, and captain Danielle Prados, will not be officially known until Nov. 7. Even so, sponsor Richard Rhodes commented that, though the team was mostly new members, it did "very well."

Last year, the Blair forensics team had three students in the finals out of the five students who were entered. Rhodes is especially proud of the improvement and growth of the team since he became its sponsor last year. "I think that potentially we could be one of the best [teams], if not the best [team], over time," says Rhodes.

At the tournament, which occurred at Walt Whitman High School from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, the students performed pieces from different forensics categories in front of judges. Elizabeth Finn and Princess Fouefack participated in extemporaneous speaking, in which speakers must choose from three given topics that have been in the international, national, state, or local news in the past three months.

Synthia Kasier performed in the category of serious dramatic interpretation which, unlike the serious prose interpretation preformed by Prados, includes a majority of dialogue and requires evidence of internal or external conflict. Serious prose interpretation must be at least 50% narrative and may come from any published piece that is not poetry.

Other forensics categories, which were not exhibited by Blair students in the tournament, are children's literature, ensemble acting, humorous interpretation, serious poetry interpretation, persuasive oratory speaking, informative speaking, and reader's theatre.

Most schools bring between five to ten people. There are usually fewer students participating in the first tournament because most schools, including Blair, have not had the time to fully develop their team and presentations. Both Rhodes and Prados hope for a larger Blair representation for the second tournament. "We hope more people can come next time," said Rhodes.

The forensics club meets on Wednesdays after 3:00 in room 261.