Summer is the season for speech.

Even though speech season does not begin until the end of September, some members of NIU’s forensic club will continue receiving coaching advice as they work throughout the summer on their hobby said Kerith Woodyard, NIU director of forensics.

Forensics club member Lisa Roth said this is her first year in the organization which she finds to be a learning experience.

“Speech is so much fun, and you get to meet so many new people,” Roth said. “You get to see so many people from other schools, so it’s a great way to network.”

She competes in individual events such as the categories of communication analysis, persuasion, informative, dramatic interpretation and reciting poetry.

The forensics club is a student-run organization that is funded by the Student Association and receives support from the Department of Communication. They compete in events which are divided up into two major categories of speech; individual events and debate, said Judy

Santacaterina, director of individual events for the forensics club.

Santacaterina said students do not have to be in the communication field to join the organization. They can join to learn how to become a better public speaker, and the club competes at the state and national levels.

Roth said she has spent a lot of time researching and preparing for certain speeches but she said she tries not to get nervous when she speaks in front of a judge.

Will Freidhof, senior general studies major, has been on the team since his freshman year. This year, he was named state champion and was top-ranked in the final round by all three judges when he recited his after dinner speech, which is a speech that uses humor to persuade.

Freidhof said his speech was on music as a form of rhetoric, and when they are put together, they create a powerful form of persuasion.

“It was one of the greatest things I have ever accomplished,” Freidhof said. “In the past, NIU forensics has had numerous state and national finalists in after dinner speaking, and I was proud and excited to carry on that tradition.”

Woodyard said this year, one of the debate teams went to compete at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. for the national competition.

“They went to a lot of tournaments together, and they were our strongest team,” Woodyard said.