RIVER FALLS – For many, the term “forensics” brings to mind visions of detectives examining evidence from a crime scene. But the 60 or so members of the River Falls High School Forensics Team are very familiar with another meaning of the term: “debate or formal argumentation.” Fresh from their return from the 2023 Wisconsin Forensics Coaches’ Association Tournament in Oshkosh, where the team captured its fifth consecutive state title, nine of the team’s members are now preparing to take part, for the first time, in the national competition, to be held in June in Phoenix.

Junior Captain Elleandra Maloney describes Forensics as “competitive speech and debate.”

“We get together and put together pieces. We talk to each other, perform for each other, and we go to competitions,” she explained.

Every year, team members can select to compete in up to three public speaking events from 18 categories, which range from prepared presentations such as Oratory, Play Acting, Poetry Interpretation, and Storytelling, to impromptu categories, such as Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, and Radio Announcing.

The team starts its preseason in December, when it holds workshops to show prospective members what Forensics is all about. When the official season starts in January, coaches and captains help members select their category (or categories) and their pieces.

“I ask them what their end goal is – do they just want to get over their fear of public speaking and to grow in confidence, or do they want to run for Congress one day?” said Co-Captain Kim Miller, who has been on staff at RFHS for 10 years and teaches English, Drama, and Speech. “We try to help them figure out which pathway, which category, would be best for them.”

Once students have selected their pieces, they meet Tuesdays and Thursdays for group practices. On Mondays and Wednesdays, students can sign up for 20-minute slots to practice one-on-one with a captain or coach, and on Saturdays, the team travels to schools across the state, where they perform their pieces and are critiqued by judges.

Miller says that Forensics is a truly unique extracurricular activity because it’s doing something that terrifies most kids.

“At the beginning of the season – and during so many points in the middle – they’re still terrified. But they still do it year after year,” she said. “It’s such a cool thing to have people want to do something that is so terrifying for them.” She adds that members “give up their Saturdays for three months. They get up at 5 a.m. to get on a freezing bus, and they think it’s worth it.”

Senior Captain Jack Stang has competed all four years and says that Forensics has transformed the way he communicates with others.

“My first tournament was so scary — probably one of the scariest experiences of my entire life,” he said. “You’re sharing this story with other people, and you’re so afraid you’re going to mess up. But as long as you keep going, you realize that people don’t really care if you make a mistake. It doesn’t matter. And the more you do it, the better you get.”

He said Forensics has taught him not to worry that he’ll raise his hand in class and give the wrong answer.

“It’s part of learning and growing as a person and as a student. It gives you confidence in yourself and speaking out about what you want,” Stang added.

Stang, who plans to pursue engineering at UW-Madison in the fall, says that Forensics will help him shatter the stereotype of the engineering student who can’t talk to people and who buries himself in books.

“Forensics taught me how to get out there and talk to other people – and not just be your stereotypical nerd,” he said.

For self-proclaimed introvert Megan Odegard, Forensics has helped her learn to use her voice to open up about topics she has never felt comfortable sharing.

“I’m still an introvert, but I’m more comfortable opening up and channeling my introvert into my speaking voice,” she said. As a junior captain, she will become a senior captain next season. “I love being a captain, because I get to see more pieces, and I love to help everyone, because it’s just so much fun.”

A vital task of a captain is to meet with fellow team members and offer critiques and feedback of their pieces.

“It’s making yourself available to the rest of the team to provide personalized, individualized feedback,” said Stang.

He said that critiquing his peers was “a little weird” at first, but that it wasn’t entirely new to him, since all team members can provide feedback at group practices.

“Freshmen can critique seniors,” he said. “We take everyone seriously. If someone has an idea, there’s a really good chance that it’s a really good idea. We don’t just blow it off.”

Junior Captain Callum Zalusky admitted that he hasn’t held many leadership positions in the past. “I was so happy and excited to be selected as a junior captain. It’s really helping me grow as a leader,” he said.

Zalusky joined the team when, due to COVID, he was a fully virtual freshman student, and while he took part in some virtual practices, he said he didn’t fully grasp what the activity was all about until he returned to in-person schooling the following year. 

“Coming back from the pandemic and being virtual, I didn’t feel like I had a lot of confidence in terms of interacting with other people. Now I feel a lot more confident just talking to people in general, but especially doing presentations of any kind,” he said.

Zalusky’s Forensics specialty is “Moments in History,” in which speakers present a speech exploring a historical topic in one of two time periods.

“What I really love about this category is that you learn something in every round,” he said.

His biggest challenge as a captain is offering constructive advice to students who are competing in non-speech categories.

“It challenges me to figure out how to help them and to provide a different perspective.”

Odegard said that the Farrago category is her favorite. In this category, students select material from a variety of literary genres (poetry, short stories, speeches, etc.) that address a central theme or emotion and interpret the material through oral presentation. Maloney, too, is a fan of Farrago, describing it as a “jumble of everything and mashing it together.” She said she is most proud of the Farrago piece she presented this year, a topic that focused on feminism and activism.

“It’s fun to challenge social norms,” she said.

One vital aspect of Forensics is learning how to take risks and to step out of one’s comfort zone. During his first three years of Forensics, Stang stuck to funny, light-hearted pieces. This year, one of the three pieces he worked on was a Farrago which took on a serious topic – racism and white supremacy. His performance captured third place in the state, but the serious nature of his piece also surprised his teammates.

“I think they were slightly shocked to see their senior captain – who had been doing funny pieces for three years – present a piece about racism,” he said.

Shifting toward more serious subject matter challenged him in a new and meaningful way.

“It took so much work – being able to craft all of these stories into one that flows together and portrays a cohesive story to the audience. That is part of the challenge – putting it together and getting it to work in the way you want, really getting into it and feeling it as a person.”

The three RFHS Forensics coaches are just as devoted to the team as the students. Kim Miller co-coaches with her husband Alex Miller, a band teacher at St. Croix Falls, while Kaye Anderson serves as assistant coach. Anderson is a graduate of RFHS and former Forensics team member, who is in college studying English Education and Psychology. Kim Miller said she and her husband met when they were in high school Forensics.

“Now we are sharing our love of Forensics with these kids. We show them what Forensics can bring them and help to support them along that journey, because it impacted us so greatly. We just want to pass that gift along,” she said.

The Forensics team consisted of 12 students when Kim Miller took the leadership reins 10 years ago. Since she became a coach, she has worked hard to promote Forensics, starting in the nine-week speech class, which all high school students are required to take.

“I’ll tell them, ‘Look how great you are! Look how much you’ve grown! You should try Forensics!’”

Miller said she also markets Forensics in drama and other classes she teaches and that she has been known to stop random students in the hallway and invite them to join. 

The pre-season workshops the team holds for prospective members feature food, hot cocoa from Wiley’s, and Forensics-themed games. Miller said one goal for these workshops is to demonstrate to newcomers that Forensics is a safe, inclusive environment for them.

“We show them that it’s okay to take risks here. No one is going to judge you for that.”

She said that word of mouth is another valuable marketing tool.

“If you can get one kid to really love Forensics, you can get five more kids from that one kid.”

Miller said the pandemic, which hit just as the 2020 season was starting, threatened to bring Forensics to a standstill.

“It was drastic for Forensics, because we’re used to speaking in front of people,” she said.

Eventually, executive board members gave them permission to participate virtually. In 2020 Forensics was completely virtual. By 2021, about half of the students were participating in person and half virtually. Miller says about 20 students dropped out during the pandemic, but that many have returned.

“It was so sad and heartbreaking, because we took for granted that we could communicate in person with people,” she said.

Now, for the first time, members of the RFHS Forensics team will compete at a national level. This is the first year the team attempted to qualify for nationals. Nine students and their coaches will travel to Phoenix in June to compete against students from across the nation. It will be the team’s first cross-country trip.

“We have such strong team captains, who kept saying ‘What if we do nationals – what if we just try?’ They were very persistent, so we decided to take the plunge.” Miller added that fundraising efforts are underway to raise the money for travel expenses.

And is there pressure to capture a sixth state title in 2024? Miller is adamant that winning is not the team’s goal.

“If we lose spectacularly, that’s fine,” she said. “Our main goal is to make students feel better about speaking, to make friends, to gain confidence, and to be comfortable in our skin. That is our championship at the end.”

Plus the “secret sauce” to the team’s success is the students.

“They help and coach each other,” she said. “Everyone supports each other. If they have a bad round or a bad performance, the other students pick them up.”

Miller adds that these dedicated students are what fills her “teacher, educator, and person bucket of happiness.”

“You might have a bad teaching day. Then you get to a Forensics practice, and these kids make you smile, laugh, and cry. I have so much hope for the future because of them. Everything is fine, because these kids are amazing.”

2023 State Individual Champions: Brooklyn Tape and Kaelyn Tape, juniors, Duo Interpretation, and Dylan Conrad, sophomore, Solo Humorous.

2023 State Finalists: Elleandra Maloney, junior, second in Farrago; Jack Stang, senior, third in Farrago; Aiden Evans, freshman, sixth in Poetry; Jackson Range, junior, second in Prose; Kira Sonnee, freshman, second in Storytelling.

2023 National Qualifiers: Elleandra Maloney, junior, and Genevieve Kerr, sophomore, Duo Interpretation; Brooklyn Tape and Kaelyn Tape, juniors, Duo Interpretation; Jack Stang, senior, Farrago; Dylan Conrad, sophomore, Solo Humorous; and Callen Schallberg, sophomore, Solo Humorous. Supplemental National Participants: Grace Nekola, senior, Prose and Poetry, and Megan Odegard, junior, poetry.

Senior Captain Olivia Bartkey was unable to be interviewed for this story.