By: Seungmin Yang, Guest Writer

Every Thursday, a meeting held by the Forensics Club happens in Mr. Kilgore’s room, in which lower secondary students may join for future KAIAC speech and debate competitions.

Contrary to the expectations of many lower secondary students, both competition and practices are open starting from seventh graders. “I would recommend this club for anyone”, says Ron Kim, the leader of the debate section of the team. The official grade limit of the team starts from seventh grade, which means that most lower secondary students may participate.

The benefits of participating in Forensics lie in the fact that speech and debate is a highly useful tool. “If you can learn this now, it will serve you for the rest of the life, and will serve you well”, said Mr.Kilgore, agreeing upon the benefit of Forensics. There are many instances that this skill will be useful, ranging from events from presentation to public debates.

However, it is true that Forensics is not the easiest thing. “The most important thing is to step out of your comfort zone”, recommended Mr.Kilgore.

“I am not scared with speech anymore only because I have been doing it for a long time”, said Lucas Lee, a forensics member. It is true that at first stepping out of the area of comfort is difficult.

Currently, there are several lower secondary members in the forensics team. “There are few”, said Mr.Kilgore. Nonetheless, they do participate.

For forensics beginners, especially Lower secondary students, Mr.Kilgore proposes two things; continuous practice and getting more accustomed with the idea of public speech. “Practice, Practice, Practice”, says Mr.Kilgore. With practice comes confidence and skill, which leads to success in Forensics.