Junior Priyanka Kumar has been participating in forensics since freshman year. Kumar said she enjoys forensics because of the magnitude of events to compete in.

“Forensics is a combination of debate, acting and speaking events,” Kumar said. “There are a few different debate events. There are events where you talk about certain topics. There are a lot of different speaking events you can do too. There are memorized events and unmemorized events and there are also acting events as well where you can work with a partner — it can be dramatic or humorous.”

Forensics is taught by Chris Riffer. In Riffer’s class, Priyanka has formed close relationships with peers.

“A lot of the friends that I have that are sophomores and freshmen, I’ve met through forensics, so it’s a good way to form new friendships,” Kumar said.

Kumar said she has learned many different things from forensics that she will continue to use later in life.

“Forensics helps build up a lot of knowledge about current events because I do an event where you have to know a lot about politics and social developments that are happening,” Kumar said. “It helps you keep updated and it helps with speaking skills too.”

On top of that, Kumar benefits from interacting with parents at competitions because they are judges.

“You learn how to act in a professional environment, which is really important,” Kumar said. “You also learn how to become a solid public speaker, which is needed for almost every career path.”

Kumar said forensics has piqued her interest in future occupations.

“I have more interest in a career in law now and I think the skills I’ve attained from forensics will last in college,” Kumar said.

Kumar said the first two years she did forensics were terrible, but she’s learning to persevere.

“Even this year I was thinking about quitting, but I stuck with it,” Kumar said. “This year things have been going slightly better — it’s good.”

Kumar said she is glad she didn’t quit and wants others to give forensics a try as well.

“You might as well try it and go for it,” Kumar said. “There’s really nothing to lose.”