On Saturday, March 20, Huron Forensics team members Arya Kamat, Dylan Lee, Connor Pang and Amy Xiu competed at the Western Walled Lake Warrior Forensic Tournament. This was their first tournament of the season. They competed against 30 other schools or 450 other “forensicators.”

“This invitational was quite the enlightening experience for me,” junior Arya Kamat said. 

Kamat placed second in the tournament for the Impromptu category and it was her first time competing in this category. 

“Arya Kamat competed in extemporaneous speaking last year and decided to switch events and compete in impromptu speaking this year,”  English teacher and Huron Forensics supervisor Kristie King-Freyre said. “When asked why she said it was because impromptu would be the most challenging for her personally and allow her to grow the most — students generally take the opposite approach. Having taught Arya in Personal Project, I was not surprised by this.”

According to the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association, “Impromptu speaking should develop speakers ability to provide reasoned responses with minimal preparation to a topic. The impromptu speech will reflect knowledge about a general subject area presented in an articulate manner within an organized framework.”

This year the topic was “Green Technologies.”

“I found it quite challenging and yet very interesting to speak on a variety of environmental technological topics,” Kamat said. “My journey through the preliminary rounds was fun, but then it all hit home when I made it semi-finals and then finals.”

Forensics is in its third year at Huron and its board members consist of seniors Sid and Shiv Jha and juniors Dylan Lee and Maggie Wolfe. Kamat has been competing in Huron Forensics for all three years. 

“Arya is a risk-taker, who loves learning, and consistently sets high expectations for herself,” King-Freyre said. “I’m not sure how she juggles so many things and does them so well, but she always carries herself with grace and maturity.”

Additionally, Kamat was also the winner of the Huron’s Ratatouille Cook-off, which took place virtually on March 18 — the Thursday before the forensics competition. 

“Winning second in this tough invitational is a terrific feeling,” Kamat said. “I owe this accomplishment to my adult supervisors, Kristie King-Freyre and Letita Simmons for coordinating this competition. I also commend my other Forensics Peers for competing in this tournament and appreciate Sid Jha for coaching me in this event.”