The Great Debaters: The Emerson Forensics Team Knows What Its Talking About

The Great Debaters: The Emerson Forensics Team Knows What Its Talking About

Make no mistake: Emerson Forensics is no CSI-like science club. It’s Emerson’s speech and debate team, and its laboratory is any room ready for competitive rhetoric.

“We don’t examine crime scenes,” said Shawna Wright, a Marketing Communication major, Class of 2010, and individual events captain. “But if you want to talk about a crime scene, go for it!”

“You might have a prose piece about dead bodies, but there are no actual dead bodies,” said Corey Efron, a Writing, Literature & Publishing major, Class of 2011, and team president.

Emerson Forensics had just three members when it was re-established four years ago after a hiatus and a long history in speech and debate. Now, the team has about fifteen active members, the majority of which are new recruits, and recently celebrated one of its most notable achievements yet.

The team won its first-ever overall sweepstakes, a team award, in Emerson Forensics history at the Suffolk Fall Classic tournament in October. This was the first tournament Emerson Forensics attended this year, where the team also won second place in the individual events sweepstakes. Team members were among the top six competitors in all but one event, already qualifying six competitors in eleven events for the national competition.

Rosetta DePaul, a Film Production major, Class of 2013, said the win was empowering for the team. “It’s nice as a freshman to know that maybe in the smallest way I contributed to that,” DePaul said. “It brought out that team feeling.”

Collegiate forensics is broken down into four categories: the Lincoln-Douglas debate, or one-on-one debating, and the three main individual events. These categories include limited preparation such as extemporaneous and impromptu speaking; public address such as informative and persuasive speaking, rhetorical criticism and after dinner speaking; and interpretation such as dramatic interpretation, duo (performed by two teammates), and prose and poetry readings. Individual scores are added into an overall team score.

Heather Erickson, a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department and Director of Emerson Forensics, said the team’s drive has risen. “[The win] shows growth not just in numbers but in dedication and ambition and talent as well,” she said. “When you’re passionate about something, you get results.”

And like most Emersonians, the team members certainly are passionate. They find piece ideas and debate cases before the semester even starts, and they research, write, and re-write their own performances. They travel throughout New England and the Midwest several times a year to compete, and they practice with coaches – Erickson and Communication Studies Department lecturers Patrick Johnson and Allen Vietzke – on a weekly basis. And to top it all off, they wear suits to competitions.

“It’s not like athletics, where if you win, you win,” Wright said about the subjective nature of the competition. “At a certain point, it just turns into details, and that’s what makes the difference between winning and coming in second.”

“In the end, you work together as a team, but when you’re performing, you have to rely on yourself,” she added.

Team members said the volume of time spent is well worth it.

“I wouldn’t be doing it if I just wanted the skill,” said Nina Dineen, a Media Studies major, Class of 2011. “It’s really fun because you stand up, and it’s just you, and you have to paint this picture with your body and how you see things in your voice. And if you do it well, people like it.”

“It’s just such a great way to keep making new goals for yourself, and you can really measure your progress,” Efron said.

"It's good experience for when you go into an interview, or to be able to use impromptu speaking off the top of your head when you're asked questions," said Brittany Jones, a Political Communication major, Class of 2011, and debate captain. "When you're on the job, it'll give you critical thinking skills to analyze and develop a plan of action."

Emerson Forensics also placed second in overall sweepstakes at the past two Northeast Regional Championships. The team qualified the most members it has ever qualified for nationals last year, and one competitor placed sixth in after dinner speaking at the national level in Spring ’08. The team’s next goal is to add a few more Emersonian names to the list of national competition winners.

Emerson Forensics welcomes both amateur and seasoned students to join.

“Emerson is a communication school. If you come here, chances are you like to talk a lot,” Wright said. “Where else do you get medals and trophies for talking?”

This article was featured in the winter 2010 issue of em magazine at Emerson College