Blessed Trinity Academy's forensics team has had a promising start during its inaugural year — it won first place overall in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Forensic League.
According to BTA forensics moderator John Hess, the award is based on points accumulated during three regular competitions held throughout the school year and a final meet.
Twenty-four schools participate in the league. The three regular matches consisted of two competition sessions, with roughly 12 schools competing during each session, Hess said. All of the teams, and more than 200 students battled at finals, consisting of one session, March 3 at Butler Catholic School.
Judges complete ballots for how well students individually present their speeches. The students aren't in direct competition with one another and Hess said that, “theoretically, every student in every round could achieve a first place,” if he or she receives an optimal score.
“The judge will sit in the room and judge you on how well you did: your enunciation, pronunciation, pause, pace, how clearly you could speak, how excited you could be about the part you are reading.”
During finals, three judges evaluate the students.
Based on the sixth- through eighth-graders' accumulated scores from the meets, BTA placed first at the initial meet and second at the next two meets.
Students could compete in six categories. Judges give impromptu competitors 15 minutes to develop two- to five-minute speeches on topics given on competition day.
In the prose category, competitors read passages, channeling different voices. Hess said the “A Mad Tea-Party” chapter from Lewis Carroll's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” is a favorite, as students must voice the excerpts' multiple characters.
BTA seventh-grader Xander Hill read Drew Daywalt's “The Day the Crayons Quit.”
“I think I did pretty well. I improved over the three meets I went to,” Xander said.
The drama classification bears similarities.
“It is usually the most wide-ranging of the performances that you do, as far as the character is in the first-person, by yourself, kind of thing,” Hess said. “You can pretend you are having a conversation with somebody if you like. Some of the speeches are written that way.”
Three to five students participate in the multiple read category. They may perform radio broadcast-type scenes using sound effects, Hess said.
Declamation competitors give speeches in the public domain such as political and commencement speeches, college lectures and closing law arguments.
Finally, poetry encompasses the literary form's many varieties.
“I did ‘The Bells' by Edgar Allan Poe because last year I also did an Edgar Allan Poe speech (with St. Bonaventure's team) and I thought it was very interesting,” said Jordan Dilley, BTA seventh-grader.
The BTA Forensics Teams meets weekly to practice their speeches and, if they have just returned from a competition, review their ballots.
“I learned through this experience that it takes a lot to be a better reader and if you do it, you will continue to succeed and get better at reading in front of people so you're not as nervous. Hard work pays off,” Xander said.
BTA formed through the merger of the St. Mary, St. Ursula and St. Bonaventure schools. The developments were part of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh's regionalization efforts making 10 North Hills Catholic schools a ministry of 32 regional parishes.
“I would like to say how much the team has grown. We have grown together a lot. Even though it's a new school, we've become friends and we've grown together as a team,” Jordan said.
Erica Cebzanov is a Tribune-Review contributor.
