UW-Whitewater Forensics Team Places 2nd at State Tournament
Mar 7th, 2013 by Ann Ricca
The UW-Whitewater Forensics team placed 2nd at the state tournament at UW-Stout last week. According to Jim Disrude, the director of Forensics, “this was the team’s highest finish at state since 1995.” Last year the team placed 3rd.
While the team placed 2nd overall, several students also received individual state championships, which is not an easy feat. Craig Nelson placed first in Extemporaneous Speaking and in After Dinner Speaking. Hannah Farajpanahi and Colton Larsen placed first in Duo Interpretation.
The team is composed of UW-Whitewater forensics veterans and talented newcomers. “[The Forensics Team] recruit speakers just like the basketball team recruits athletes, and we added some really tremendous talents this year that helped us raise the bar another notch, “ Dirude noted. The team recruited five people to enroll in the University and compete on the team.
The students work very hard in order to reach these accomplishments. Colton Larson, a freshman B.F.A. theatre management/promotions major on the team noted that, “The biggest challenge of any college forensics team is keeping the momentum going throughout the lengthy season. It is easy to become weary throughout the year, especially during winterim break. We overcame this challenge by organizing one on one team practices over break. We always encourage our teammates to put in extra practices and stay motivated.”
The students put many hours into this activity to get make it perfect. “We started planning our season about ten minutes after last season ended!,” said Disrude. “Our students spent most of last summer writing and memorizing events.” While the hours are long the results can be very rewarding. “The best part about placing second was the camaraderie created on the team and the pride we all felt being from UW-Whitewater,” Larson said.
The team travels to dozens of tournaments a year going to universities in Virginia, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Throughout the tournaments they have won exactly 100 awards during their regular season. The UW-Whitewater Forensics team is currently preparing for their national tournament in April that will be held at Marshall University in West Virginia.
Disrude highly recommends students joining forensics. “The research shows that students who compete in college forensics are more likely to graduate, attend graduate school, have higher GPAs, participate in community service more, and out-pace their peers in key learning areas such as research, writing skills, oral presentation skills, and reading comprehension,” Disrude said. The UW-Whitewater Forensics Team is always open to any UW-Whitewater student.
Students interested in joining forensics can contact Jim Disrude via email at DisrudeJL10@uww.edu, like their Facebook page at facebook.com/whitewaterforensics, and follow them on Twitter @uwwforensics.