By: Kent McCarty
The Warrior Forensics team will hold a showcase on Tuesday, December 15, in the library and in Mr. Cole’s room (A-116) to wrap up the first half of their competition season. Each member of the team will perform a piece that they have performed in competition so far this year, and will be judged by successful team members from past years, including Kent Ford, Austin Seeley, Blakely Owens, Abby Olivier, Laken Taylor-Sells, and others. Attendees of the showcase can expect a variety of performances, ranging from light-hearted and funny to deep and dramatic.
The showcase will feature over 25 performances by members of the team. In preparation of their first public performance of the season, team members have been rehearsing their pieces daily. One duo, made up of sophomores Allison Slusher and Lindsey Hardin, have been working especially hard to impress at the showcase. “We’ve practiced a lot in class to really clean up our performance so we’ll do well for our showcase performance,” Slusher said. “We’ve been getting feedback from other team members as well, and that seems to be really helping.”
Aside from preparing for the showcase, the debate team has been busy competing in eight tournaments from the beginning of the season in August to December to strengthen their performance skills for the state competition in April. The preparation continues into the Spring segment of the season, where the team will continue to compete and prepare for the state competition, where they will face off with schools from around the state, including rival Hattiesburg High. If Oak Grove can hold off Hattiesburg and other schools at state, this will be the team’s fifth consecutive win at the state competition in Ridgeland. “We’re making the best of class time we have left before the end of the semester then we will work as much as we can after school. We’re all looking forward to competing for our fifth straight state championship,” Forensics Team President, Daniel Rigel, said.
The showcase is open for anyone who wishes to attend, free of charge. The performances are graded and are counted as each student’s semester exam, so those in attendance are asked to be attentive and give each team member the proper respect during his or her performance.
