There’s No Debate: NOVA Forensics Team is Tops
The Forensics Team is one of NOVA’s best-kept secrets, but it’s time to give the team some much deserved attention! What exactly is the Forensics Team, you might ask?
According to Professor Saleha Bholat, who is in her first year as assistant director of the team, “The word, ‘forensics’, is derived from Latin and is closely related to ‘forum’. A forum is an open exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of respect and responsibility…’forensic competitions’ in debate, public speaking, and literature performance were often held in Ancient Greece and later in Rome to assist in teaching students how to make strong arguments and deliver them with passion”, and the Forensics Team at NOVA is a proud descendant of this incredible tradition.
The Forensics Team is a fairly new organization, and it is headed by a group of passionate educators who believe in the importance of developing good communication skills in NOVA students. According to an email written by the Forensics coaches, The NOVA Forensics Team was started by Dr. Nathan Carter, in order “to establish a formal NOVA Forensics Team that would be sanctioned by organizations that oversee intercollegiate competition in speech and debate events (forensics).
Dr. Nathan Carter has served as the Director of the NOVA Forensics Team since its inception in Fall of 2012. In addition to Dr. Carter, the team is also coached by Professor Saleha Bholat, Assistant Director of the NOVA Forensics Team, and Professor Kush Jenkins, Assistant Director of the NOVA Forensics Team.” Last year, some remarkable performances were showcased from students Roma Diseati, Dinma “Dee” Onyekwere, Alexandra Degenhart and Aslihan Imamoglu, all of whom competed at nationals in Cleveland, Ohio.
“The team, campus-wide, has students currently from Alexandria, Annandale, Manassas and Loudoun, and we have a total of 10 students, 6 of which are going to nationals…Forensics is a nation-wide ‘sport’, as we like to air-quote it…Forensics has multiple districts and we are in the East coast district, and so we go to Regional competitions throughout the year, and sometimes we go to competitions in other states as well, and we travel to compete and then…once students have reached a certain amount of awards, they have qualified for the National Tournament… [which is] held in April…[and this] brings all of the districts together to compete”, says Bholat.
When asked why students within the Northern Virginia Community College system should consider joining forensics, Dinma said: “If you don’t have…friends already on campus [the Forensics Team is] a great place to make friends, because we’re…a cute little weird dysfunctional family.”
Alexandra added “[Forensics] helped my memorizing skills and now it’s super easy to study…it’s a fun way to learn and socialize with people…meet people from other universities or colleges.” “And other campuses,” Dinma interjects. Besides learning invaluable life skills, students who participate in forensics may also receive scholarships or be more readily accepted into amazing schools.
As Dinma said, “Madison, Mason and Bradley..have been like ‘Oh, you’re transferring? You should come to our school’…It’s a great opportunity to get your foot in the door.”
“The forensics team works on students’ public speaking skills, and their oratory as well as working on building their confidence as students,” says Professor Bholat, “Forensics is a combination of both performances and that of debate…I think [belonging to the Forensics Team] helps students greatly.” Professor Bholat noted, “We have students from such diverse backgrounds, for example 4 or 5 of our students…were not even born in the US… We have assisted them [by] taking something that they think is a disadvantage…due to accents, etc. Taking something that they’re really overly-conscious about, and turning that into a skill…they exceed now when compared to say someone who was even born in America, and English is their first language.”
Between practicing for upcoming competitions and learning the skills that make a great communicator, students involved in the forensics team also find time to hang out with each other and many have formed close bonds with their teammates and coaches. Professor Bholat is happy to say that , “Dee and Alexandra did not know each other at the start of the semester…they’ve never even taken a class together…now they text constantly.”
During the short time that I spent talking with a few of the lovely members of the forensics team, I came to the conclusion that this was a very different kind of academic organization then I am used to seeing around NOVA. The dynamic between students and their coaches is really very refreshing. One gets the impression that this is a family, in every sense of the word.
Professor Bholat remarks, “It is definitely a family…They know that they have someone they can always come to, to ask questions or just spend time with, or grab food from…just someone that they can rely on…It’s very much a team environment…That is the forensics’ strength as a team on campus, because students who join forensics end up doing quite well in the remainder of their classes because they have someone checking up on them constantly.”
Professor Bholat adds: ” We would love for [anyone] who’s interested to just stop by and experience [forensics] and see if this is something they would like to do. We can take anyone who just wants to try public speaking, and [we will] help them develop that skill significantly.” So if you are interested in improving your public speaking skills, making new friends, as well as improving your odds of being accepted into your dream school or receiving scholarships, you should consider trying out for the forensics team!
Interested studenta can contact Prof Bholat at sbholat@nvcc.edu or Prof. Carter at ncarter@nvcc.edu
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