The Latin School of Chicago

"Forensics" means the art of debate and public advocacy. Through forensics, participants can practice the public speaking skills that will enable them to contribute to public discourse and decisionmaking.

The Latin School Forensics Team was founded in 1992 by Martin Scooter Thompson when it occurred to him that Latin had tremendously gifted public speakers in its halls just waiting for an outlet for their talents. Given the small size of the School, he opted to join the Chicago Catholic Forensic League (CCFL) and participate in their tournaments. Participants who did well in these tournaments would qualify for the Grand National Tournament held in one designated city in the United States each Memorial Day Weekend.

Beginning with only 5 students, the team has grown in the last decade to include approximately 18 students on the speech team and a student congress team of nearly 15 students.

The forensics season can run from summer to summer as students often attend notable summer speech camps at Stanford and other sites where they train and pick pieces for the fall. Competitive tournaments begin in mid-October and continue through the end of February. Top scoring students who qualify participate in the national tournament at the end of May.

Even in the team's relatively short existence, it has produced no fewer than three national octofinalists--students who are ranked in the top 48 in the nation, numerous CCFL champions in various events, and numerous Illinois High School Association (IHSA) regional champions and sectional finalists.

"Forensics" includes three main categories of events: speech/individual events; student congress; and debate. Latin has competed in the speech and congress areas primarily. Though students may choose their own areas of focus, the team's mainstays have been Extemporaneous Speaking, Duo Interpretation, Oral Interpretation of Prose and Poetry, Original Oratory, Oratorical Declamation, and Dramatic Performance.

Competing in forensics can be a life-altering experience as it helps competitors become more accomplished, confident public speakers. These skills are tremendously useful in many future endeavors, including class presentations, college and job interviews, and full participation in communities and adult life.

Forensics Events

Extemporaneous Speaking:
The speaker maintains a file of current event information from all the world's major sources of news. At tournaments, the speaker draws three questions on current event topics from a pool of 20 or so questions, and chooses to prepare and present a speech of maximum length of 6 minutes and 30 seconds. The speech must be well structured, well-supported with current evidence, and well-spoken with most judges weighing the ranking 60% speaking and 40% content/organization or some variety of this.

Duo Interpretation:
Two speakers each take one role in a scene from a play or a play cut to its most crucial elements not to last more than 10 minutes. The speakers then interpret the lines while holding the manuscript. Strictly speaking, this is not an acting event. Body language is to be limited and most of the ranking will be based on vocal performance.

Oral Interpretation of Prose and Poetry:
The speaker chooses selections of poetry and prose and interprets them (manuscripts in hand) in alternate rounds at the tournaments. As with Duo Interpretation, body language is to be limited and the ranking will be based almost entirely on vocal performance.

Original Oratory:
The speaker writes an eloquent persuasive speech and then presents it memorized to audiences at the tournaments.

Oratorical Declamation:
The speaker obtains, memorizes, and presents a famous speech previously given.

Dramatic Performance:
The speaker cuts a play, scene, short story, etc. down to a manageable 10 minutes, and then is free to act out any or all of the characters.