Forensics squad grows together through competition, hosting experiences
When referring to “forensics,” people often think of crime investigation. However, for a group of West students, it means the competitive speech team. Forensics encompasses all aspects of public speaking. Participants compete in a wide variety of events, ranging from acting to speech writing to impromptu speaking categories. Students start practicing in early December and in January, they travel all across Wisconsin to compete against other schools. West hosted their home tournament on Saturday, February 14.
English teacher and coach Michelle Huettl feels that the most important part of a tournament is the impact it has on her team. The enthusiasm they have for being able to show off their school makes it worthwhile.
“The excitement that our students get from hosting a home tournament is always a big highlight of hosting for me,” she said.
Senior Piper Crawford agrees.
“I really enjoyed hosting the tournament this year. It’s a lot of work, but it’s pretty rewarding seeing other schools coming to us to compete,” she said.
Although encompassing a significant amount of work, it all pays off in the end. Senior Nick Miller found that the most challenging part of preparing for a tournament is helping to ensure everything goes according to plan.
“It was very stressful,” he said. “We had to be everywhere kind of make sure everything was in the correct spot and that signs were up to help direct everyone to their correct room.”
Huettl appreciates all the people that volunteered their time and effort when it came to setting up and hosting the home tournament.
“We had parents bake 70 pounds of potatoes for the baked potato bar for judges,” she said.
Huettl enjoyed watching the nerves melt into confidence.
“Mostly there was a lot of anxiety ahead of time, hosting such a large tournament. I think that in the end, it went a lot smoother overall,” she said.
While having a stressful start to hosting, when competitions came around members of forensics began to feel more comfortable. Sophomore Barakat Akinyele enjoyed the comfort of a home tournament.
“I was a lot more comfortable knowing that the tournament was at home,” she said. “Since I went to one of the earlier tournaments, I knew more of what to expect.”
Crawford found the work built bonds of understanding.
“It’s fun seeing a whole community of like-minded people come together and actually work on something they love doing. Seeing the work you put into hosting becomes really gratifying,” she said.
For Miller, forensics has helped him be more confident.
“Forensics got me out of my shell quite a bit. I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, but now I’ve done things that I never would’ve even dreamed of,” he said.
-Akinyele has learned that growth takes time.
“I hope to become more confident in my public speaking,” she said. “Right now, I’m still a little bit nervous in my category, but I hope that I’ll soon make it to power rounds. Eventually, I’d like to be able to do more categories in the future.”
by Zosia Bowlus-Jasinski and Chloe Lusvardi
Published March 2, 2026
Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue V