学生Maddy Ramey, Olivia Vore and Ali 默尔顿 laugh in the basement studio of Gaylord Hall during an interview for this article.
学生Maddy Ramey, Olivia Vore and Ali 默尔顿 laugh in the basement studio of Gaylord Hall during an interview for this article. "Yeah, that's pretty much us," was the sentiment expressed when they were shown the photo. 他们是澳门威尼斯人网址八人法医小组中的三人, 包括埃里克·罗德里格斯在内的一个关系密切的团队, 丹尼·阿瓦洛斯, 布莱尔Kampovitz, 特雷·波特和凯西·凯斯勒, 以及教练纳撒尼尔·威尔逊和詹妮弗·托雷斯.

在那之后的20多年里 澳门威尼斯人网址取证 开始, the university has regularly placed in the top 20 for team sweepstakes at the 美国法医协会 National Speech 之旅nament (AFA-NST). 学生们经常把它分成四分之一, 在个人事件的国家比赛的半决赛和决赛轮.

直到2022年,24岁的亚历山大(阿里)莫尔顿才拿回了冠军 全国冠军 这是球队的第一个冠军. 莫尔顿在大二的时候获得了诗歌解读的第一名. 该队总成绩为第18名.

所有国家都面临着在2023年实现更多目标的压力. But they’re well on their way — with nine events already qualified for nationals, 更多的计划正在进行中.

Let’s get into more detail about what that means for the team as they prepare for the state tournament, 最后几场资格赛,最后, 全国锦标赛, 包括在圣安娜的AFA-NST, 加州.

你不熟悉法医学吗? 滚动到底部,获取有关竞争性演讲的一些背景信息!

 

认识团队

澳门威尼斯人网址的取证小组很小,只有八名学生. 但他们很强大.

通常, it takes placing in the top three rankings in an event at two separate tournaments to qualify that event for nationals. Placing in the top three at a district tournament means an automatic qualification.

“在地区, 我们带来的每一个项目都获得了(全国)参赛资格,24岁的奥利维亚·沃尔说, including a duo interpretation they and 默尔顿 pulled together in just three days before the tournament.

是的,他们就是这么好.

当然, Vore and 默尔顿 have been in competitive speech since high school (Vore actually 开始 competing in middle school.他们已经多次投入工作了. They’re also roommates, and, especially for a duo, it’s definitely advantageous to be close.

不仅仅是他们,整个团队都很接近.

Madison (Maddy) Ramey ’26 said she was a little worried about being the only first-year on the team when she first arrived on campus. 不过,她的恐惧很快就平息了. 

“每个人都很快帮助我过渡到大学. 我们找到了自己的团队凝聚力,”她说.

Like teasing Director of 取证 Nathaniel Wilson about not listening to Taylor Swift (he 比如斯威夫特.) The team also frequently sees each other outside of tournaments and practice, 在心理学和通讯课上, 例如. 几个团队成员有心理学专业或副修专业, 威尔逊也是传播学实践的助理教授.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more tournaments are now held asynchronously online. 但没有什么比14小时的双向车程更适合去奥斯汀了, Texas for the Hell-Froze-Over (HFO) tournament to really get to know people. Ramey, 默尔顿, Vore, 威尔逊和詹妮弗·托雷斯, 法医学助理主任, 就在1月11日的那个周末. 14.

雷米打破了她的两个事件,一个P.O.I. 以及散文解读, 进入HFO的最后几轮-这是任何一年级队员的第一次, 威尔逊说.

“显然,这是一项压力很大的活动,”他说. “但总的来说,他们非常专注,他们非常冷静. 他们一直都非常非常支持对方. 这为所有的工作创造了一个良好的环境.”

和Ramey一起, 莫尔顿和沃尔, 23岁的埃里克·罗德里格斯和24岁的达尼·阿瓦洛斯也是活跃的队员, 参加锦标赛和全国资格赛.

另外三名学生是兼职学生, 这意味着他们在竞争中不那么活跃, but are still working on at least one event and will likely attend tournaments. 25岁的布莱尔·坎波维茨(布莱尔Kampovitz)目前担任团队经理, and Trey Porter ’23 and Cassie Kessler ’24 joined to gain additional public 说话 experience.

学生Olivia Vore穿着橙色的长裤坐在一个橙色的凳子上, 打着粉色领带, 拿着一个小的黑色活页夹,用于口译演讲活动. 在他们的左边站着穿着绿色裙装的玛蒂·雷米. On their right, Ali 默尔顿 stands in a pink suit and looks back at Vore. 三个学生坐在黑色地板上的黑色窗帘前.
学生们(左至右)Maddy Ramey, 奥利维亚·沃尔和阿里·莫尔顿表演了他们的解释性事件, 每个人都用黑色的小活页夹. 在一年中的这个时候, 这三人都已经获得了多个项目的全国参赛资格, 他们的目标是参加更多的比赛并获得资格. 

 

接下来的步骤

现在团队已经完成了HFO, 他们的下一个重要比赛是2月11日的州锦标赛. 澳门威尼斯人网址将在下周末举办一场锦标赛, and co-host one with 康科迪亚大学 in early March — but there are only a few other tournaments before AFA-NST in April.

That’s the challenge in the early part of the spring semester — to do as much work as possible on re搜索ing and writing speeches, 制作角色和剪辑脚本, and polish up events completed in the first semester that haven’t yet qualified, 在获得资格的机会耗尽之前.

“One of the things we recommend a lot is to do as much work as you can those first two weeks of the semester,威尔逊说. “然后随着课程的增加, 你已经准备好了, 你只是在打磨,为表演做准备.”

Through early March, students will focus on getting new events up and qualified. 但在那之后, 随着全国赛的临近, it’s time to dust off each qualified event and figure out how to freshen it up or make it better.

就拿莫尔顿和雷米参加HFO决赛的项目来说, 有许多相同的竞争者参加的更大的比赛, 将参加全国赛的教练和评委.

“So, 我们要怎么做才能确保这一点呢, 来的人, 它对观众来说仍然是独特而新颖的,威尔逊说.

在某些情况下, that means taking feedback from judges’ tournament notes to see how other people interpret an event as a whole, 或者对事件的不同理解. 在其他情况下, 特别是在公共演讲活动中, 它指的是将近期发生的事件或政策变化纳入其中.

“在许多其他活动中, 你会希望在多个比赛中保持一致性, 表演, 无论, 在法医学中,情况正好相反,托雷斯说。.

该队总共获得了9个项目的参赛资格:

  • 雷米已经获得了她的项目口译资格.O.I.) & 散文解读.
  • 莫尔顿对她的信息和DUO解释进行了认证.
  • 对他们的散文诠释进行了限定, 阿里的戏剧诠释与DUO诠释.
  • 阿瓦洛斯的《威尼斯人官网》和《澳门威尼斯人网址》获得了资格认证.
  • 罗德里格斯已经完成了他的饭后演讲. 

另外, Porter is working on a dramatic interpretation and Kessler is working on a persuasive speech.

 

分享和建立人际关系

像他们的队友一样, Vore has already started working on two additional events — an informative speech and poetry interpretation.

“The info is something that Nathaniel (Wilson) and I have talked about since pre-season,沃尔说。, 关于非二元恒等式.

无论是公众演讲事件,如信息或解释事件, 几乎所有的话题和主题都有个人的联系, something that makes forensics incredibly special to students and coaches.

就像莫尔顿所说的那样, 辅助和替代通信(AAC)设备. 她在演讲中使用了自己的AAC设备——平板电脑. 她在全国获奖的诗歌诠释集中在不流畅上.

或者Ramey,他的P.O.I. is about how there’s a perception in running that the skinnier you are, the faster. 但是任何体型的人都可以擅长跑步. 她是澳门威尼斯人网址田径队和越野队的成员.

For Rodriguez, his ADS was inspired by his commute to work over the summer.

汽油价格接近5美元, 我以为我会把薪水的大部分都花在汽油上,他说, 开车10英里上下班.

雷米说,很多人加入法医学是因为他们想要倡导.

“我们互相支持,”她说。, 得到了沃尔和莫尔顿的掌声(三人一起接受采访).)

That’s also why many of the teams that compete locally — Hastings College, 康科迪亚大学, the University of Nebraska-奥马哈 and -林肯 — cheer each other on at district and national competitions.

“看到内布拉斯加州的其他学校表现出色,真的很令人兴奋. 你经常看到他们,以至于你记住了他们的作品,”沃尔说. 

 

*什么是法医学?

Don’t worry, there’s usually no blood spatter analysis or DNA gathering — although both forensic 科学 和法医 说话 都根植于法律证据、理性和论证之中 美国法医协会 对这段历史有扎实的概要吗.在这种情况下,它是公开演讲.

通常有11项大学赛事, 分解成解释性事件, 公开演讲活动和有限的准备活动. 这些定义缩写自 国家法医协会的章程.

解释性事件包括:

  • Dramatic interpretation, which uses selections of dramatic material (plays, scripts, etc.)围绕一个主题或论文. 
  • 诗歌的解释, which uses excerpts from poems (or materials with poetic elements)围绕一个主题或论文. 
  • Prose interpretation, which uses excerpts from prose (short stories, novels, essays, etc.)围绕一个主题或论文. 
  • 口译课程(P.O.I), which uses excerpts from multiple genres of literature oriented around a single theme or thesis.
  • 两人的解释, 哪个是两个人的表演, 使用任何类型的文学或出版材料的选择. 但这不是表演——没有道具的使用. 

公开演讲活动包括:

  • 饭后演讲(ADS), which is a speech designed to entertain about a single topic through humor. 
  • Persuasive 说话, which is a speech designed to influence an audience through attitude or action. 
  • 信息说, which is a speech designed to provide detail and in-depth information about a topic.
  • 沟通分析, 有时被称为修辞批评, which is a speech focusing on communication theory and using it to analyze an artifact or event. 

有限的准备活动包括:

  • 无准备的演讲, which provides each student three questions addressing events related to domestic or foreign policy. Students are given a half hour to prepare a 7 minute speech answering one of the questions with points arguing why the answer is correct. 
  • 即席演讲,为学生提供一个单词,短语或引用. 学生最多有七分钟的时间来准备和发表演讲.