by Colleen Yates ’18

 Most people hear the word “forensics” and think that it refers to the science of examining crime scenes. However, the Sherwood Forensics team is a public-speaking team comprised of a small group of students from every grade. After getting third place in the county last year but losing several seniors, the team was hoping to pick up where they left off, add some new members to the team, and continue rising through the ranks of MoCo Forensics.

 Unfortunately, Sherwood placed fifth in the county, but they are still proud of their accomplishments, especially the fact that many new members joined.

 “We had a lot of new people pick out a piece and compete in a tournament, but not qualify,” said senior President Natalie Murray, who has been competing since her sophomore year. “As much as it sucks when things don’t go your way, it was still nice to see people make an attempt, and hopefully more people will at least give it a shot next year. You never know what might come ou

t of it.”

 Murray’s hope comes from personal experience, as she made it her personal mission to try new categories this year, and her attempts paid off: she got third place in poetry as well as an Excellence Award for qualifying in five categories. “We may not have done as well points-wise as last year, but we had a lot of people trying new categories as well as getting new members involved,” she said.

 Murray placed third in the poetry category, and third for a reader’s theatre group piece along with senior Gabby Kahn and sophomore Adam Levine. Sophomore Ben Martinez placed sixth in the original works category for his written comedic monologue.

 The team, led by English/Theatre teacher Chris Goodrich lost many seniors last year, but had many new people join this year. Goodrich plans to have a Forensics class as an elective next school year.

 Sophomore Nick Stonesifer participated in one competition for a reader’s theatre piece. “It was a very cool experience,” said Stonesifer. “I had no idea [Forensics] was so serious.” The group came in third and did not qualify to continue but Stonesifer says he’s grateful for the opportunity.