Forensics: BGSU Loves Forensics the Most!

I just returned home from the Valentines themed tournament titled "I Love Forensics" at the University of Michigan and I am so tired! But this extremely long day has been worth it, as BGSU won first place in team sweepstake, meaning we must love Forensics the most! Second went to Ball State University; third to Eastern Michigan and other participants included Butler, OSU, U of M and Saginaw Valley.

This was a small, but extremely fun filled tournament. You know it will be a great day when it starts by trying to squeeze our huge van into a parking garage with low ceiling clearance... literally we were scrapping the cement beams above us. No worries, neither the University vehicle nor any Forensicators were injured!

In addition to our team sweepstakes, our team won fifteen individual awards, including three first places. They are as follows:

Prose Interpretation
Shelley Nixon- 3rd place

Programmed Oral Interpretation
Abby Bollenbacher- 1st place

Poetry Interpretation
Abby Bollenbacher- 5th place
Shelley Nixon- 6th place

Dramatic Interpretation
Shelley Nixon- 1st place
Kenny Rogers- 3rd place

Duo Interpretation
Mike Hensler/ Anna Adkins- 4th place

Informative Speaking
Michelle Baker- 3rd place

After Dinner Speaking
Kenny Rogers- 2nd place

Persuasion
Kenny Rogers- 3rd place

Rhetorical Criticism
Michelle Baker- 2nd place
Abby Bollenbacher- 3rd place
Michael Hensler- 5th place

Extemporaneous Speaking
Michelle Baker- 1st place

I have to admit, naming this post was difficult, and it was almost "We Won a Monkey!" At smaller tournaments like this, awards are not plaques or trophies. Rather, individual awards tonight were steam wear full of candy and our team received a Valentines stuffed monkey! It's great because our team kind of collects monkeys... don't ask!

Another amusing factor of this tournament was the one competitor from OSU who came to enemy turf. Richard Smith is seen on the left, waits for the awards ceremony to start. Take a deep breath OSU fans, because you'll not like this next tidbit. Joel Thomas was a Forensics competitor and undergrad at OSU, but he now serves as U of M's graduate assistant.



Another oddity was the abundance of... me! My name is normally pretty unique, but in the Poetry finals, there were three Abby's! One of which was an ethnic male. On the right is a photo of the "postings." In Forensics speak this is the poster hung on the wall near the tabulaton room, letting competitors know if they've made it in to the final round, what order to perform in and where that round will be held.

In other Forensics news, my Dramatic Duo partner accidentally put a knife through his hand. In Forensics land this news is met with a gasp and "was it the script book hand?!?!?!" Sadly, the answer was yes. (Meaning the hand that we hold script books in, from which we perform our interp events.) I told our coach that if he wasn't able to do our Duo this coming weekend at my last Varsity State tournament, that I'd kill him! Paul assured me that if need be, we'll duct tape the book in place. So please, send Lew thoughts of a speedy recovery.