CF Forensics Take Home Awards

The team earned Readers Theater State Champions and Third Place Overall Team Sweeps and Second Place Individual Events Sweeps. Student Eileen Hernandez was named State Champion in Persuasive Speaking and Programmed Oral Interpretation and fourth place for Informative speaking. She and other team members brought home numerous individual awards including Brionna Lassiter, second place for Programmed Oral Interpretation and fourth place for her Poetry. Emily Brouwer was awarded second place for her Extemporaneous speech and sixth place in Informative. Zachary Williams was awarded fifth place for his Impromptu speech.

“CF Forensics is founded on the philosophy of Finding Your Voice. Meaning, we want our students to become better communicators and to talk about issues they find important through an activity that develops their critical thinking, writing and performative skills,” said Associate Professor of Speech and Director of Forensics, Dr. Matthew Maddex. “The results at the FCSSA two year state championship shows that we are not only working hard but finding our voice. I am proud to coach people who care more about the message than the potential award!”

Students will go on to the Florida Intercollegiate Forensics Association competition at the University of Central Florida. In intercollegiate forensics, which includes speech and debate, students compete in team and individual events in a variety of areas including interpretation of literature (prose, poetry), public address (informative and persuasive), limited prep events and several platform speeches. The forensics association enables students to not only improve their speaking skills but also develop a stronger understanding of the communication field as a whole.