On March 24, 2018, Midlo sophomore Quentin Phillips, represented Midlo at the VHSL State Forensics tournament, leaving with a silver medal in his event. In his event, extemporaneous speaking, he has thirty minutes to develop a seven-minute persuasive speech answering a question about a current event. The current events in Quentin’s case were: Africa, the federal government, and Central Asia. He was the only one on the team attending the forensics tournament, so taking home this second place award was a “nice surprise.” Additionally, as a freshman, he made it to states; however, he was accompanied by a few others on the team, which Phillips believes was a “nice introduction to the activity.” He plans to continue forensics because “it’s a lot of fun and [he’s] gotten close with the team.”

Quentin is the only extemporaneous speaker at Midlo; although there were 36 at states, with six in each division. He feels proud of his accomplishment, sharing, “It feels really good to take home silver as the only competitor for Midlo, but next year, I’m aiming higher.” Now that states are over, there are no more competitions for this 2017-2018 forensics year.  Forensics teaches multiple life skills; for Quentin “[he has] learned to speak openly and clearly,”and his work on the team has improved his “skills for writing.”

How hard is it to participate in extemporaneous speaking?

Extemporaneous speaking is considered one of the more difficult speech events, but it requires little time outside of the competitions unlike other events, which you have to memorize.

Would you say it is the hardest thing to do in forensics?

I don’t really think there is a hardest event. Everyone has different strengths and will find each event different in difficulty. Extemp is one of the easier events to me, but I’m terrible at events like improv.

What is your favorite topic?

I always love speaking about American politics; it’s always fun to shake up people’s ideas on topics they thought they understood.