On Saturday, January 24, the Manitou forensics team traveled to East High School in Pueblo for a meet. Coach Jeff Borst and freshmen Maya West and Alli Marte left on the bus at 6:30 a.m. They stayed in Pueblo nearly 12 hours, only getting home at 8 p.m.

After years of MSHS having no Forensics team, the program has been revived this year by Jeff Borst, who taught at Sierra High School and is the parent of Manitou students. Forensics is a speech and debate competition, with events including debates, original speeches, dramatic and comedic monologues, duet pieces, and extemporaneous speaking.

The competitors from Manitou were in two separate categories. Marte’s piece was humorous monologue about a young girl attending a cosmetology class. West’s piece was a selection of poems about women in the work force from the book “A Working Girl Can’t Win” by Deborah Garrison.

Marte and West both performed strongly, but took home no awards. Even if no wins are gained, these weekend meets are seen as valuable practice and experience.

“It’s really inspiring being around such enthusiastic people who aren’t afraid to be themselves. I’m nervous about state quals, but I’m excited and I bet we’ll all do well,” said Marte.

State Qualifications will take place in three weeks on February 21, and both competitors are hoping to qualify.