On February 28, 2025, the Woodgrove Forensics Team traveled to Dominion High School for the regional competition and later advanced to Super Regionals in Lynchburg on March 7, 2025. The trip had a big impact on club members, benefiting them in many ways.
A Blue Day club, the Forensics team is very involved with public speaking and debate, and one may even confuse the two clubs as similar. However, Mr. Thomas Scott, who works with Ms. In Sim as Faculty Co-Sponsors for forensics, went into more detail about how Forensics operates. She explained “Forensics is one of the oldest VHSL activities. It’s over 100 years old, and it’s competitive public speaking.” Scott explained that the structure of the event includes 10 different categories that students can refine their skills in, and that students can advance from regional level to super regional level, then finally all the way to states.
Competing in Forensics gives students many ways of bettering their own craft. Rory Fricano, a senior, stated, “It’s very beneficial, because you get to actually compete in your event. You get to see how other schools compete, how other people interpret similar poems. You also get to hear a lot of different voices from a lot of different other schools in our county. When we got down to Super Regionals in Lynchburg, we got to hear from people all over the state. So it’s just interesting, getting to improve your own craft by hearing the way other people will speak and how other people take the same sort of prompt and spin it in the wrong direction.”
Another big benefit of Forensics competitions is the public speaking element. Charlotte Yao, a sophomore, explained, “I had experience in public speaking in theatre, but Forensics gives you confidence in doing this yourself and being able to know what you’re saying and how to say it in a way that is understandable to other people. It’s really helpful to organize your thoughts and better express yourself.”
The Forensics trip was also a great experience for all of the members that took part. However, one aspect stood out to most of the club members. Emma Edwards, a junior, expressed, “This trip was definitely an adventure. We stayed at very interesting hotels. The Super Eight Motel. It was really something.” If you want more information about the hotel experience for club member you can click this link to a podcast about that very subject: https://www.thewoodgroveoutlander.com/category/podcasts/intro-to-journalism-pilot-episodes/
The Forensics Club’s trip to Dominion and Lynchburg provided all of the club members very important life skills and benefits. From public speaking to building confidence and better arguments, the Forensics Club can give you a lot of skills.