By Malachi Wickman

Atlantic High School’s debate and forensics team have started their competition season.

Terrence Shuman, English teacher and forensics coach of AHS, prepares and takes students to speech tournaments each year.

Sophomore Cassandra Hallman states, “You’ll never forget a forensics tournament.”

Students prepare throughout the school year for two different kinds of competitions.  The first type are the regular season forensic tournaments, which lead up to National Forensics League (NFL) Districts in February.  The NFL tournaments have a variety of different events, including scripted and nonscripted, improvisation and interpretation, and partner and individual.

When asked her favorite part of tournaments, sophomore Tiffany Brockman commented, “Being around everybody and getting to see other people’s pieces.”

The other type of tournament is the Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA) tournament.  Unlike the NFL tournaments, the IHSSA tournaments are held on Saturdays, and participants perform only once. Students who receive a division one rating advance to the next level of competition.  There are three levels of competition, first the district level, followed by state, and finally All State.

Shuman comments on the importance of tournaments, saying, “If you were trying to design a single extracurricular activity that best ties in to a student’s academic life, it would be difficult to come up with a better one than debate/forensics.  Students read, write, analyze, research, organize memorize, and speak.  Research consistently shows that students who do debate/forensics score higher on standardized tests, get better grades in their classes, and perform better once they reach college.  Debate/forensics also fosters the sort of leadership skills colleges and businesses are looking for.”

To receive more information on tournament dates and event details, you may contact Mr. Shuman.