A Short Lived Career in Forensics

      I think you should all know that this week I officially retired from the NFL.  I was only part of this organization for 6 months, but I had to call it quits this Tuesday.  I put in a lot of work and effort towards this organization but it just really wasn’t my thing.

         Confused?  6 months ago I would have been too. No, I am not in the National Football League, what I mean by the NFL is the National Forensics League and by that I don’t mean I was doing CSI investigation work.  The term forensics is derived from the word forensis, which is a mid 17^th century Latin word meaning ‘in open court, public, from forum’.  In other words, I was on the SMSU speech team this year.

            Before joining the team the only exposure I had to competitive speaking was through my cousins, Jenna and Abby. I remember them performing at family holidays and thinking it was really odd. They really got into what they were saying and showed so much emotion. Jenna and Abby have gone onto competing in college for highly respected speech teams. Both have a strong passion for this activity and have been incredibly successful. I on the other hand could tell a different story.

            I didn’t choose to be in forensics, the SMSU Speech Communication Program did. (It is a required class in my major to compete in 5 tournaments) Looking back on the past 6 months there have been a lot of ups and downs being involved with this activity, but I will just focus on the fun times. One of the most entertaining things I did was coming up with the unwritten rules of forensics with other newbies. 

These are some of the rules we came up with:
1. You must look at your black book as if it were a science experiment.     

 *In some forensics pieces you use a black book to represent the story you are telling. To put it short, people really get into using these.
2. If you are in a depressing mood, don’t compete in or watch prose because it will only make it worse.
3. If you are a girl, in order to compete you must have suits in every color, pearls, nude heels, and red lipstick. 
*Seriously, where these girls find these suits is a mystery.  I wore the same black suit every time I competed.
4. Making it to nationals in one event is not impressive.
*People typically qualify 5+ events to nationals. Hats off to them.
5. Bring your own snack to meets otherwise you won’t eat for 7+ hours.
6. According to my coach: “If you don’t feel like you are going to get shot at your hotel, then you aren’t doing forensics right."  *We must be doing it right then.
7. If you are new to forensics, don’t compare yourself to the people you are competing against because they have been doing this for their whole lives while you have been doing it a mere 3 months.

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            At the end of it all I can’t complain about my experience on the forensics team; I had early success by making it to the finals in my drama piece, met new people, became a more confident speaker, and found an appreciation for all of those who compete in forensics. 

It isn't a forensics meet without Coach Fokken taking a selfie with a set up photo-bomb.  

New friends: The one in the middle does an awesome Melissa McCarthy impression.