By Crysta Cross and Elijah Kutsenda
The word forensics has long meant the art of speechmaking and oral presentation. Coming from the Latin, forum or forensic before the 17th century, meaning “in open court, public discussion”, according to the oxford dictionary. Most people today think or forensics in terms of science used to investigate a crime.
The world of competitive forensic rhetoric is just as difficult as any college sport. It takes lots of practice and research to compete at the national and international level. With 13 different categories to compete in, deciding which category one will chose can be a daunting task in and of itself. Then there is the research, which no speech is complete without. Valid facts and statistics are necessary in exuding a professional and fluent speech.
Once one has written their dialogue, there are hours of memorization, tweaking ones performance and hitting marks. The finished product must fall within a set time limit and be so well executed that Henry the eighth would be jealous.
Las Positas college forensic team, known as the Talk Hawks, have long been of champion caliber. Last November, they took home the First Place Community College Sweepstakes Award at the Steinbeck Invitational.
Here they competed against 16 different colleges and universities, including the prestige’s UC Berkley and out of state collages such as Illinois State University. ISU is renowned for its forensics.
In Jan. of this year, the Talk Hawks won the third place Community College Sweepstakes Award at the Keeling Invitational, where they competed against 13 other colleges and universities, including, yet again, California’s Ivey league UC Berkeley.
Other competitors include San Jose State University, City College of San Francisco, CSU Chico, Santa Rosa Junior College, Solano College, Ohlone College, Chabot College, Hartnell College and Modesto College to name a few.
On Mar. 12 and 13, 2018, the Talk Hawks competed in the 28th annual International Forensics Association tournament, held in Montréal, Canada. They won “second place in the community college division and sixth place over all” according to Tim Heisler, LPC Communication Studies faculty. This renowned LPC’s forensics team as a force to be reckoned with.