On Thursday, September 27th twenty-eight high school students attend the Laurel Highlands High School Speech League demonstration at Conemaugh Valley High School. At the demonstration, students had the opportunity to watch last year’s state and national qualifiers present their speeches. Eleven various competitive categories were demonstrated. Representing Central Cambria in the category of Duo Drama was Josh Remillard and Christoff Trexler who were named Regional Champions and competed in the national competition last May in Baltimore, MD. (See attached photos)
The demonstration serves as an excellent opportunity to help students select their category for the upcoming season. Students were able to see first hand the skills and talents needed for each category and an example of what a “winning” speech looks and sounds like! Whether a student is interested in writing their own speech to inform or persuade, speaking about National and International affairs or prefers to interept the dramatics, there is something for everyone!
Sophmore Jada McNeal stated, “I believe forensics is an important extra-curricular to have at Central Cambria because it promotes the dwindling value of direct human-to-human verbal communication.” Senior Steve Sloan added “It improves the public speaking and communication skills which are important skills to have in the age of technology. Forensics helps me make commections with peers with similar interests as well as improve my public speaking skills.” Junior Ashley Wilt noted that she will be a member of the forensics team for a variety of reasons, “I really love the atmosphere at the competitions, I love public speaking and it will prepare me for college presentations.”
The Central Cambria Forensics Team is coached by Mrs. Michelle Kokus and Mrs. Michelle Shirk. The team will compete in three regular season meets and in both the state and qualifying competitions throughout school year.
