On Feb. 4, 25 students on The Bear Creek School’s Forensics Team competed at the Crusader Forensics Invitational at Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish.
Two students earned three trophies between them: junior Katie Gomulkiewicz took first place in the Impromptu category and junior Jake Casale took first place in Humorous Interpretation. Together they won first place in Dual Interpretation.
Other students whose preparation in speaking and debating yielded trophies were freshman Grace Carruth, who earned third place in Interpretive Reading and senior Alex Boettcher, who earned sixth place honors in Congressional Debate and broke a multi-season lock on this category held by Eastside Catholic and Newport high schools.
The forensics season runs September through March. The Bear Creek team has competed in seven tournaments this season, earning 36 awards across multiple divisions.
“All of these awards, however, belie the important contributions of the individual team members,” said Kevin Davison, faculty advisor to the program. “(They) overcame personal challenges, delayed seasonal starts and difficult tournament logistics, applying themselves diligently week in and out, all while receiving top honors and placing in the top of all divisions we competed in.”
Six members have qualified for the State Speech Tournament, which will be held March 10 at Universityof Puget Sound in Tacoma.
“This will be our largest state allocation to date,” Davison said.
In addition to state, nine debaters will enter National Qualifiers in three different styles: Congress, Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas. Five speakers will enter for individual events: Dual Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation and Impromptu.
The Bear Creek Forensics Team competes in the “3A and under” classification along with 56 other Eastside and Seattle schools in District II. In its third year of existence, the team has grown to include more students and more tournaments.
“We also added a new category of debate, Congressional Debate, and expanded into two new fields of Individual Events: Humorous Interpretation and Dual Interpretation,” said Davison.
A local forensics tournament such as the Crusader Invitational consist of an average of 24-40 schools competing in three divisions: novice, junior varsity, and varsity (also called “open”). Students take turns speaking and debating in different judged rounds, culminating in semi-finals, finals and an awards ceremony.
Students use the same selection through all rounds. In the Dual Interpretation event, Gomulkiewicz and Casale interpreted a piece from the book “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson, which has brought their audience to tears a few times so far this season.
“On March 23, the team will hold a community exhibition for the first time,” Davison said, “highlighting forensics to the school and local community with the goal of educating and entertaining as well as attracting potential recruits for next season.”
