Page 40 - CBA 1991 YEARBOOK

Competition At Its Best
By The Word And By The Number
Competition always pays off after a lot of hard work and sleepless nights. That was the motto for both the Forensics team and the Math Team. Although their types of competition were different, their goals were the same: to become better ac­ quainted with their fields of com­ petition and to bring home vic­ tories from their tournaments.
Forensics, or public speaking, was a very interesting field, with such categories as Dramatic In­ terpretation, Humorous Inter­ pretation, Oral Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Extempora­ neous Speaking, Declamation, and Original Oratory. The team’s tournaments were held on Sat­ urdays, and usually the members
would have to get up very early in the morning (around 5 or 6 am) to get to school by 7 or 7:30 am. The ride to the tournament could take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. The tournament itself consisted of three rounds of com­ petition, and after a long time of waiting, the contestants were narrowed down for final round. Those who made it that far had a chance to come home with tro­ phies and half points towards the State Tournament, held in Al­ bany. The highlight of the year was competing to participate in the National Tournament, which was held in New York City in
1991.
The members of the Math
Team began preparing them­
selves for their tournaments, which were usually held after school, in the fall of 1990. They worked arduously as they lis­ tened to Mr. Owens give hints on solving problems faster. Their work had paid off. At the end of the season, they were happy to learn that they were in the mid­ dle of their league.
Even though the team’s sea­ son started out slowly, it was soon discovered that the team ’s strength was in the Juniors. Oth­ er members contributed much as well. With their new found knowledge and experience, Mr. Owens hopes that CBA’s Math Team will come at the top of the league in the future years.
Memorizing a famous speech can be a lot of hard work, especially if it happens to be a closing argument from a trial. Ni­ cole Chang demonstrates this as she performs her piece, “A Plea For Mercy” by Clarence Darrow.
Michael Smith practices his piece, “Faustus”, for an upcoming tournament. In it, he will compete in Dramatic Inter­ pretation, a category reserved for those who are very emotional.
36 Activities
There are some categories in Forensics for which you cannot really prepare. Karen Allen’s category, Extempora­ neous Speaking, is one of these.