MCC forensics team competes in national tournament

McHenry County College's forensics team talked their way into receiving 12 medals at a recent national competition.

The 10-member squad bested every school from its region and competed in the 76th Phi Rho Pi National Tournament, placing fifth in individual events and sixth overall as a group in their division, scoring a bronze award in both categories.

In all, the team scored 12 medals - five of them gold, two silver and five bronze.

This marked the school's best showing at nationals, and as an added bonus, MCC also beat out community colleges in Texas and Florida with more resources and bigger student bodies.

"It's nice to go in there and show people that we work just as hard as anybody else and a lot of money doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to do well at a tournament," said Lauryn Lugo, the team's captain. "It's nice to go in there and shock people with how well we do."

The teams that placed above them are all from California. The tournament was exclusive to community colleges.

"That was pretty exciting because we are a relatively new program," said Bonnie Gabel, the squad's moderator who founded the team in 2003. "Here we are, a small school and understaffed compared to these other programs and then we managed to have the best ranking for our region."

Forensics, in this case, deals with public speaking and breaking an argument into separate parts.

There were three categories in the national competition: platform speeches, performance of literature and unlimited impromptu speaking.

You have the option of writing your own pieces or performing something that already has been published.

Lugo, 20, of Lake in the Hills, performed a fictional piece she wrote about a standup female comedian who was raped; while trying to make jokes about the rape as a defense mechanism, realizes that the crime is no laughing matter.

For that speech, Lugo scored a gold medal in the prose interpretation subcategory.

"That is a lot of emotional prep work that you have to do behind the scenes to get into the state of mind to try to portray that character," Lugo said.

Team members practiced three times a week to perfect their pieces, and once at the tournament they practiced every day, Lugo said.

The trip to New Orleans wasn't all about competing. It was also about giving back.

The team volunteered at the Ozanam Inn, a shelter for the homeless and a rehabilitation center for recovering addicts.

They spent their Easter serving food to the residents, talking to them about their problems and touring the shelter.

"Everyone was real emotional by the end of it," Lugo said. "I felt it was the best thing we could have done as a team."

The team will hold a showcase at MCC of their award-winning performances at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, inside the Black Box Theater.

Tickets cost $5 and the show is expected to last 90 minutes. For details, call Gabel at (815) 455-8684 or e-mail her at bgabel@mchenry.edu.