Six students qualified for the national level of Forensics this year: Siddharth Kulkarni (‘19), Sophie LaRose (‘19), Hana Li (‘19), Aparna Jayashankar (‘18), Aafreen Sajid (‘19), and Ravina Sachdev (‘19). Each one of them will be going to Washington, D.C. and Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the final stage. LaRose and Sachdev shared their thoughts on going to Nationals.

To begin with, Ravina Sachdev is the head captain of the Forensics team. “I have had the pleasure of being surrounded by so many talented individuals,” she said, “and I’ve been mentoring them [meaning other Forensics members], giving advice, coaching, and assisting everybody on the team. It’s been such a great experience and I’ve been really lucky to have a leadership position for a club I care so much about.” Sachdev first began participating in Forensics in seventh grade and has fallen in love with it since then.

Forensics, for those who don’t know, offers many different categories of public speaking that range from Humorous to Serious to Informative. Sachdev has dabbled in many different categories, but this year, she is trying out Extemporaneous Speaking, which, in simplest terms, is impromptu speaking. After being given a prompt and thirty minutes, Sachdev must formulate a speech and perform it in front of a judge. “It’s hard,” she says, “but it’s the most applicable skill for the real world: the ability to think on your feet, and to speak without knowing a lot about what you’re getting into.”

Sophie LaRose, another one of the national levels qualifiers, has chosen to go into the informative category. “I have to present a self-written speech informing the audience of any topic I choose with a six minute time limit,” she explains. “This year I’m speaking about misinformation in the tobacco industry — essentially how the tobacco industry falsely convinced the public [that] smoking is harmless. I then draw parallels between this trend and trends today in regards to teen use of electronic cigarettes.”

LaRose also went on to say that no matter how difficult the competitions felt, she always felt the overwhelming sense of being part of a team. “Despite the trials and tribulations of the day we had lively conversation. It’s at moments like these where I feel like I’m part of a team. I am very grateful that our school has offered students this opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions and truly be a part of a team.” Although Nationals will be taking place over the summer, Brookfield Central still cheers these six representatives of the Forensics team to Nationals and wishes them all the best of luck!