The Forensics Team is one of Peters Township’s longest standing institutions, with the club having been in existence for over sixty years. Forensics itself is a speech and debate based organization that frequently competes in verbal and written categories. There are many categories for each competition, with speech featuring things such as on-the-spot argument creation or performances of pieces of writing, while debate features different topics each month that students must argue over. Recently, the high school team made history with its first state win since 1962.
At the end of March, the Pennsylvania High School Speech League held its annual statewide competition at Bloomsburg University that over 1,000 students from 85 different schools attended. Several students from Peters Township placed, with junior Meera Suraj and freshman Abby Pieczynski being named semifinalists in their categories, and junior Chloe Hollingsworth winning the title of state champion in prose, a subsection of the speech category. Hollingsworth, who is currently serving as club president, is the first Peters Township student to have won any state championship title since 1962.
“Being the first person from Peters to win this title in over 60 years, which is how long the club has been around, is surreal,” Hollingsworth remarked. “It makes me even more determined to stick with this and help grow the club in our school, and hopefully pave the way for more competitors to succeed.”
Previously, Hollingsworth has served as the club’s vice president, and she has also been involved with forensics since the fourth grade.
She reflected on when she joined the club in the fourth grade, “I would always hear announcements about forensics, and I let my curiosity get the best of me, so I showed up to an informational meeting,” she said. “At that time, Mrs. Bowman ran the intermediate school program, and she was so compelling. Watching her speak made me want to be able to reach that level and be able to grasp storytelling and just speaking in general the way that she did.”
Aside from her awards, Hollingsworth believes that Forensics has positively impacted her academics and public speaking abilities. It has allowed her to feel more confident while speaking in front of her peers and maintains that public speaking is an essential skill that has benefitted her greatly.
Hollingsworth also encourages students interested in joining the club to do so, as she believes that it can positively impact others just as it has for her.
“Ultimately, you will gain so so much from even showing up to a few meetings, let alone a tournament or two,” she remarked. “Furthermore, the forensics community is so welcoming and amazing, everyone has a place and a role to play, which makes it so much more than just a club.”
