A resurgence of interest has led to the return of the Potomac Falls Forensics Team.

When most people think of a forensics team, the image that likely comes to mind is one of a group investigating a crime scene and testing DNA evidence. However, if they walked into a debate practice at Potomac Falls and took note of the two girls working separately from the rest, that impression might be changed. Seniors Laura Kate Stevenson and Kyra Breslow choose works of prose and poetry, memorize and rehearse these pieces, and compete with others to demonstrate their excellence in public speaking and performance. Welcome to the forensics team.

The forensics team is a subcategory of the debate team. They practice every Tuesday and Thursday alongside debate, learning and practicing some of the same basic concepts of public speaking. However, while debate is argumentative and calculated, forensics is based on performance. Students recite prose, poetry, or literature that relates to a common theme, and are judged in competitions based on the cohesiveness of their piece and the way they perform it.

“For debate, you want to draw on people’s logic, but for forensics you want to pull on people’s heartstrings. You can do a dramatic piece where you’re trying to make the judges cry, or a funny piece,” said Stevenson.

Due to a decline in interest, the school has not had a forensics team since 2015. This year, however, debate team coach Brandon Kerr decided to revive the program, along with coach Allyson Simpson. Although the club only has two members so far, they have their own coach specifically for forensics, and they plan to attend competitions in the upcoming months.

“We have two girls getting ready to compete in the first tournament that our league sponsors, and we are very excited. They have been working very hard to select both poetry and prose pieces that have a common theme, and they’ll present that piece to a judge and their peers,” said Simpson.

With a great coaching staff and countless hours of practice under their belts, the forensics team is set up for a strong start.