High school speech and debate students met at THS on the rainy morning of Saturday, Sept. 28th for the Fall Forensics Workshop.
The goal of the workshop was to give returning students an opportunity to learn about and practice new events, and give new members an insight to what the competitions are like and how to start preparing for them.
Teachers representing schools such as Silverton, Glencoe, Barlow, and others from the Willamette Valley taught students the basic information of each event. They used their own impressive trainees to display speeches and debates, which made for entertaining learning for the crowd.
“It was an enlightening experience to be able to share what I’ve learned with people who are interested in doing what I do. It’s nice to see kids interested in enhancing their minds in such a fun way,” said Tigard demonstrator junior Kevin Henderson. “I’m happy I’m able to give back what I’ve learned because speech is one of my passions.”
Passion was highly talked about by all the teachers. Katie Kantrowitz, Silverton high school, couldn’t stress enough to “love what you’re talking about” in her recommendations during her session.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug,” declared Pat Gonzalez from Cleveland High School. This was his last piece of advice after giving a lesson for ADS (After Dinner Speeches). Gonzalez told everyone that this quote couldn’t be more correct for any speech or debate given, because words are so important to how you present yourself.
Sophomore Delan Haung, Tigard speech and debate club member, remarked, “THS workshop was an extremely informative and inspirational event, and it was exciting to see students and coaches from other schools.”