On Thursday, February 2nd at 6:30 p.m., Yorktown High School hosted their annual VHSL AAA National District Forensics Championship Competition. Last year, Yorktown took home third place in the 2010-2011 VHSL AAA State Forensic Championships and students were eager to bring home the first place title. This year, nine Marymount University English majors volunteered to be guest judges at this tournament and were dispersed to judge among the eight categories of the evening: Extemporaneous Speaking, Storytelling, Prose, Humorous Dramatic Interpretation, Impromptu Speaking, Poetry Interpretation and Prose Interpretation. Their knowledge of the conventions of language and narration helped to move students forward to qualify in the Regional competition.
Marymount judges were tasked with providing subjective, yet constructive feedback to the high school contestants. Instead of speaking to the competitors, judges filled out each student’s ballot with positive comments about each student’s piece and gave advice on what strategies or techniques the student may use to better their overall performance. Under the guidance of Mike Krulfeld, coordinator of the tournament, the event flowed smoothly and was a great success.
To find out about which Yorktown students won in each category, please click here.
