SJDC Forensics team held a showcase on Thursday Feb. 16 in the Atherton Auditorium to demonstrate the team’s efforts in persuasive and extemporaneous speaking, prose, dramatic and poetry interpretation, and debate.
“The students who showcased their events have been members of the Forensics team for two semesters or more and are qualified performers, who are either in the speech and debate class, or were recruited by the coaches,” said ASBG and Forensics President Nicholas Aguirre.
Cassandra Sinclair, who recently took second place at the Northern California Forensics Association in prose, interpreted a literature piece an Iranian girl’s struggles with the difference of values and morals in America.
Novice competitor Tareka McClellan-Hudson performed a dramatic interpretation about a woman who was more occupied in being a pillar of character to her community than being one for her own home.
The platform events showcased real events occurring in today’s world, but the highlight of the showcase was the debate.
Open competitors, Nicholas Aguirre and Adam Smith were up against debate coach Kathleen Bruce and Dr. Bill Ferraiolo.
The topic of the debate was that the college financial aid system is broken in California. Bruce and Ferraiolo were arguing in support of the topic, while Aguirre and Smith were opposing it.
The teacher vs. student debate was informative, serious, and funny all at once.
“The good thing about this showcase is that it shows what debate really is. Because people think it’s very serious we wanted to show them that it’s also very fun. It’s not just a serious, boring thing,” said Professor Bruce.
Despite Aguirre and Smith’s efforts the audience declared the professors to be the winners.
The showcase was well-received by those in attendance.
Student Darlene Varquez said “I thought this showcase was very interesting because it’s very informative about the world as it is now. For example, the interpretations were about everyday events, and the debate was very informative about our school’s financial aid system, so we were able to understand how we all see things.”
SJDC Forensics competes in many state-wide events for novice, intermediate, and open competitors. “We just want to show students here at Delta what we do and how well we do it because we really are one of the best Northern California teams in the region,” said Aguirre.
