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Photo by Jessica Stadler

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Record number sent to Albany

Forensics, debate send 20 to CFL nationals

Silver Lake's forensics squad recently claimed their place in the school's annals by qualifying 20 students for the national tournament, which will be the largest group in Silver Lake's 21-year forensics history to compete at the contest.

Senior Trent Strunk said that he thinks that the team's harmony has allowed them to have the success that they've achieved.

"Specifically, I think the debate team is a lot closer than it ever has been before. Between all of us, we're almost all friends. We might make fun of each other a whole lot, but we prefer each other's company to a lot of people. On the forensics squad, it's kind of the same deal. There's not quite the unity that there was on the debate squad, but we're definitely getting close," Strunk said.

He also said that he was inspired to hear of all of his teammates qualifying for nationals.

"I was pretty excited when I heard that we were going to have all of these people come to the national tournament along with us. Obviously the debate teams all got qualified back in the fall so we have a long wait to see who else will get qualified. We have a lot of young kids going and that's going to be really good for them.

"The only bad reaction that I had to this many people going was the fact that, with the economy being kind of bad, that's a lot of money to be spending but I think that the price you pay for these kids to go to the national tournament is definitely going to be worth it. They're going to become better individuals as a whole and I feel that, as a school, I don't think that you can put a price on getting people ready for the real world," he said.

The forensic team competed in the CFL national qualifier on March 20 and 21 at Anderson County High School and placed second behind Salina Central High School.

The 20 students going to the tournament in Albany, New York in late May are Strunk, Lindsey Schroeder, Jerod Barker, Shelby Brokaw, Jaeton Martin, and Jake Maryott in Policy Debate; Riley Oblander and Jacob Schroeder in Public Forum Debate; Rachel Brokaw, Josh Plaides, and Kyle Klucas in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; JaVon Martin and Nikki Richardson in Student Congress; Rachel Cross, Derek Holmer, Jay McDaniel, and Matt McClain in Duo Interpretation; Chloe Austin and Emily Taylor in Oral Declamation; and Jestina Matulka in Original Oratory.

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Photo by Jessica Stadler

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He said, "I'd say that my reaction after qualifying was not surprise, necessarily, but I was definitely happy to be qualified because Lindsey and I kind of came down to the wire to qualify."

Strunk said that he plans to have a positive outlook toward the tournament this year.

"I’d hope my outlook for this year's tournament will be better than my past ones. I do have a novice partner, Lindsey, but she's doing pretty well and is a quick learner. Hopefully we can get up to speed quick enough to have at least a decent presentation, maybe even break into out rounds," Strunk said.

Even in his last year, he said that he still has something to gain from his experience.

"This year I think that I'm going to be more worried about the experience for the younger kids. There's a few kids, especially on the debate squad, that I want to go take to debate out rounds and have them watch some of the best debaters from around the country for them to see really how debate is supposed to be.

"Here around Kansas, we have some good debaters but certainly there's a lot of room for improvement within the Kansas community. I feel that, if I show these kids how debate can be and how they can debate, they have the capability to be in the upper echelons of the Kansan ranks, if not the national ranks."

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