Forensics team makes its case

"Give the speech team a chance; you'll be surprised how much it has to offer you," said junior Ayush Batra, member of Hopkins' newly formed Forensics team.

There is never a paucity of Hopkins students with the desire to start a new club. They are creative and ambitious, and with an array of interests, these students form new, exciting groups each year. But with little free time, it's important for students who enjoy participating in clubs to weigh out which club will have the best overall pay offs, both socially and academically. When discovering the new speech team, one may find the greatest pay offs in both categories.

A speech team, also known as a "forensics" team, is a group of individuals who compete in an array of public speaking events, ranging from "impromptu" to "dramatic interpretation."

Juniors Euna Lhee, Steven Chen and Mary Chen and sophomores Chris Kovalchick and Jon Godin started the forensics team last year so they could start recruiting this fall. Lhee initially formulated the idea this past spring, which then led to her and the rest of the creators drawing up an abstract and a constitution.

"Many Hopkins students competed in forensics in high school," said Godin, "so we felt that the demand would be high."

The team got started because Hopkins had no formal speech team. Although there is a debate team, it does not encompass the large groups of events and tournaments where typical speech teams can compete. Also, a speech team is concerned with the areas of forensics other than debate.

"Most of the Ivy league colleges and other major colleges and universities all have proper speech teams, so it's about time Hopkins had one," said Batra.

John Astin of the Writing Seminars department is the advisor of the team.

To initially publicize, the team set up a booth at the Student Activities Commission (SAC) Fair and received over 60 signatures. They are now trying to raise funds due to the lack of SAC funding, and members note that they will have a presence on the breezeway in the upcoming weeks. Presently, the team is applying for an alumni grant which will help them attend two competitions in Washington DC this spring.

Anyone who is interested can join by attending one of the general body meetings, and no experience is necessary. The team has many types of members, from biomedical engineers, a history majors and biology majors. Competitions are set up like an athletic team tournament.

"The only thing that a person must have is a passion to compete and speak...that's all you really need to be successful in forensics, and of course, a little luck doesn't hurt either," said Batra, who competes in the impromptu speaking events. The competitions consist of three preliminary rounds, from which six finalists in each event are chosen to compete in a final round. "Some entail acting, while others are speeches on the fly. Some require a speech to be written out beforehand, but above all, the only way to succeed is practice," said Steven Chen of the competition setup. The final round is weighed heavier, with the ultimate ranks being determined by a combination of the preliminary rounds and the final rounds.

Interested students are encouraged to email Lhee at eunalhee@jhu.edu or come to the weekly meetings. With no immediate competition approaching, practice is maximum two to three hours per week. But, be warned of the time commitment, for before a competition, the number jumps to about ten hours.

Reasons for joining the team ranges from member to member. "I joined because I wanted to stay active with forensics after high school," said Chen, Vice President of Membership, who realized parliamentary debate with the debate team was not what he was looking for. "The fact that it's actually a team, and knowing that there will always be people there at competitions in a supportive role to stand by me no matter how I do," is another reason he joined. "It's a lot of fun," he continued. "It's a great way to meet people and engage in healthy competition. But most importantly, [I joined] because it lets you develop and perfect your own public speaking abilities, which will surely come in handy in almost any career in the future."

"I feel [public speaking] is an important trait that unfortunately isn't formally taught or practiced in any regular school curriculum," Batra added. "Yet the ability to speak publicly and convey your thoughts and ideas to a large audience is an extremely important trait."

Steven Chen agreed. "It will definitely help me out in terms of knowing what to do in a high pressure situation, like a med school interview," he explained. "I also know my public speaking has improved immensely from high school speech, and there's no reason why our team not cannot provide other undergrads with the same experience."

As of now, the team has attended one competition, which turned out to be a huge success. Three team members won awards, which is outstanding for a novice team with no coach or past college experience. Hopkins competed against other east coast schools such as University of Pennsylvania, New York University, George Mason University, Cornell University and Morgan State University. Hopkins students took home five awards, with Steven Chen placing first in "Novice Impromptu" and "Novice Program Oral Interpretation" and second in "Varsity Program Oral Interpretation." Batra placed fourth in "Novice Impromptu," and Sheng Li placed sixth in the same category.

"[It's] highly idealistic, [but] we would like to compete in many future competitions and would ideally like every student at Johns Hopkins to become involved in one way or another," Batra said.

Chen added that a goal of the team is "also just to have a bigger presence on campus so that we know that upon our graduation, what we've worked so hard to set up will stay at Hopkins in the future." The team's other main aspiration is to qualify for the annual national competition.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the team thus far," said Godin. He competes in "Impromptu," an event in which competitors have seven minutes to prepare and deliver a speech based on a provided quote. "This event has improved my public speaking and general communication skills. It has also taught me how to think on the spot, work quickly, and make quick decisions. These skills will help me in all walks of life."