Photos submitted by Zoe Boschek.

The Hamilton Forensics Team finished off its highly momentous 2026 season in April that was full of many wins as well as significant improvements across all team members at competitions. In fact, five competitors of the freshman class powered for the final round of their categories in tournaments, and three competed at the WFCA State Tournament at Neenah High School! The 2025-2026 executive board this year was made up of five total members: senior Jessica Cunningham (Assistant Team Manager), sophomore Andrew Tessen (Assistant Team Manager), senior Vastavi Choudhari (Team Manager), Vivian Walsh (Junior Captain), and Lucy Daniel (Senior Captain). The coach for this season was Mrs. Marklund.

As Daniel described this season as a whole, she expressed that “[This season was] full of growth, success, and fun for all of us! It was definitely my favorite.”

Read on to hear more about how forensics works, the results from each tournament this season, and recognizing the senior class for this remarkable team.

What is Forensics?

Usually, when people hear forensics, they typically think of the science definition that involves applying scientific methods and techniques to investigate crimes. However, forensics in this case means competitive public speaking. According to the Wisconsin Forensics Coaches’ Association (WFCA), forensics is a competitive extracurricular activity that focuses on developing high school students’ communication skills through various speech, acting, and interpretive events.

There are 17 different speech categories that the WFCA offers, and this season the team members competed in around 10 of them! Some of these categories include Poetry, Expository Speaking (a shorter speech to inform the audience about a specific topic of choice with no persuasion), Moments in History (an informative piece about a specific event from a time period), Radio Speaking (broadcasting the news from various sources), Duo Interpretation (a two person performance acting out a play or story), and other acting categories such as Solo Humorous (a comedic piece) and Solo Serious (a dramatic piece).

For scoring wise, forensics uses a ranked system (1st-5th) where 1 is the best. Each performance is evaluated based on vocal/physical performance, characterization, and following the specific rules for each category. Depending on large categories, after three rounds, a competitor can become a finalist if they place 1st or 2nd in their rounds. If one is advanced to the final round, they will compete with four other individuals to determine the placement they receive in their chosen category.

Lake Country Tournament

The very first tournament that consistently happens each season for the team is the Lake Country Tournament, which Hamilton and Arrowhead co-host every year in early January. This is one of the earliest competitions for all of WFCA, so it is a great chance for competitors in the state/area to practice their pieces for future tournaments later on. This year, the Lake Country Tournament was held at our very own high school; next year it will be at Arrowhead High School.

Specifically for the Hamilton team, numerous team members were able to place! In Duo Interpretation, Choudhari and Manjot Gill placed 3rd, in Expository Speaking Cunningham came in 5th overall, Walsh placed 5th in Informative, Krishiv Badam placed 3rd in Moments and History, Leesha Vanchireddy placed 5th in Impromptu, Daniel placed 6th in Poetry, and Adam Payne placed 6th in Radio. Well done to these eight members who managed to place in some tough competition!

Choudhari shares why this competition is one of her favorites.“I love the Lake Country Competition because it’s the kick off of the season and just being able to work with the team and Arrowhead to make it happen is very fulfilling.”

Slinger Tournament

As the season progressed, the team headed to Slinger High School to compete at the Slinger tournament on February 7th. This tournament was slightly more difficult than the first competition that the team hosted due to the amount of competitors and the level of experience each had. But with the experience from the first competition of the new season, the members gave it their all. Both Cunningham and Daniel placed in the finals of their category, Expository Speaking, with Cunningham coming in 5th and Daniel right behind at 6th. Daniel also placed in her second category, Poetry, 2nd overall! For the Informative category, freshman Niharika Besta placed 5th overall. In Moments and History, Badam came out on top by placing 1st overall, his first time winning at a high school forensics level! In the same category, freshman Sunand Vasudev Anand Kumar placed 4th overall! And finally, in Radio Speaking, senior Payne placed 1st as well, and sophomore Aarush Agnihotri in 4th. Very noticeable improvements were made!

Madison West Tournament

A week later on February 14, the third competition was held at Madison West High School for the Madison West Tournament. Besides State, this was the team’s most difficult tournament to note. However, a few of the members were able to make it to the final round of their category and place in the top 5 or 6. Seniors Gill and Choudhari placed 4th in Duo Interpretation, Zoe Boschek placed 5th in Solo Humorous, and Badam placed 2nd overall in Moments in History!

A lot of the members took this tournament as a learning experience. Freshmen member Badam claims, “Competing against so many people for the very first time, it was quite overwhelming. Everywhere you walked, you saw kids practicing in the hallways, doing so much better than you think you are. But once you step into the competition room everyone's nervous, and by then, it's truly a competition not merely about speaking, but about confidence as well.”

Greater Metro Conference

The GMC Tournament located at Brookfield East High School on February 21 was most definitely the smallest tournament, but still a great way to get some more competition in and start to make some little but impactful improvements on pieces before State slowly approaches. The schools competing were only the schools that were in the same conference as Hamilton, such as DSHA, Menomonee Falls, and others.

Hamilton Forensics again had multiple placings across all grade levels. Freshman Neil Mathur won 7th in Expository Speaking, Chindamani Ramakrishnan won 4th, and Cunningham won 2nd. In Extemporaneous Speaking, Tessen placed 5th overall! In Impromptu Speaking, Vanchireddy won 2nd place and freshman Pranit Arora came in 5th overall. Keeping up the streak of powering to finals, Badam placed 3rd, and freshman Yudhister Banda placed 5th in Moments and History, which was his first competition in high school placing for! Daniel came in 4th place in Poetry, Payne placed 2nd in Radio and Brijesh Ganesh Kumar placed 4th and Arya Arun won 5th place! In the Solo Humorous category, senior Boschek won 2nd place. This competition was a huge success!

Port Washington Tournament

After some short time off of competitions and getting some useful practice time in, the team headed back into tournament mode by attending the Port Washington Tournament in Port Washington on March 7. There weren't many members from the team for this tournament, but the few results include Tessen placing once more in the Extemporaneous Speaking category by tying in 4th place, Banda placing in the top 3 in Moments and History, and Payne winning 5th in Radio Speaking!

Brookfield East Tournament

A few weeks passed, and on the first Saturday of spring break (March 28th) the forensicators arrived back to Brookfield East to compete at the last tournament before State. There were 19 schools in attendance and 154 total entries! But for the Hamilton team, that was no issue for success. Daniel came in 2nd place in Expository Speaking. Along with this, Badam placed 4th in the same category, which was a new category for him to compete in. Badam placed in his second category Moments and History, winning 3rd overall. Tessen placed for the third time this season, placing 5th in Extemporaneous Speaking. In Radio Speaking, Payne placed 3rd, also maintaining a consistency of making it to the final round! Great job competitors!

State

The well-deserved break allowed the forensics members to have the State mindset they needed. On Saturday, April 11, 12 of these members competed at the final tournament of the season at Neenah High School. These competitors were Walsh, Daniel, Choudhari, Boschek, Ethan Rotolo, Banda, Tessen, Ganesh Kumar, Vanchireddy, Agnihotri, Shravan Karthikeyan, and Badam.

Huge congratulations to Daniel and Vanchireddy for representing Hamilton by being State Semifinalists! Daniel was a semifinalist in Poetry, and Vanchireddy in Impromptu Speaking. WFCA State was the most challenging tournament this season, and these two members managed to make it to the 4th out of 5th round!

In addition to these phenomenal achievements, Walsh was selected for the 2026-2027 Student Advisory Committee for WFCA! In order to be selected as an officer, applicants must be a student in at least their second year of competition at a WFCA-affiliated school and not be in their graduating year. Students had to apply by completing the required application materials such as the student information, service experience, and activity summary forms. They were also required to submit a video essay of themselves explaining how forensics has impacted their lives and what changes they would like to see in all of WFCA. Finally, they needed a recommendation letter from their forensics’ coach. Walsh was one of the few that was selected for the committee amongst the prestigious group of applicants. Congratulations again!

After her first year on the high school team and advancing at state, freshman member Vanchireddy reflects, “I think it’s really gratifying to watch myself grow through the season and really be proud of myself at state. For all the freshmen next year, it’s going to be a little hard competing against high schoolers, but it’s okay because if you believe in yourself, you can do it.”

Honoring the Seniors

This wonderful group of seniors truly stepped up to the plate these past four years. Although some have left the team throughout high school, these seven went into this season full of determination and the mindset of setting an example for the underclassmen. Almost all of the seniors have competed in multiple categories! The improvement each one made from freshman year to senior year is truly impressive.

The Class of 2026 includes two-year member Ethan Rotolo (competed in Poetry), three year-member Zoe Boschek (competed in Oratory, Solo Serious and Solo Humorous), two-year member and Assistant Manager Jessica Cunningham (competed in Informative and Expository Speaking), two-year member Manjot Gill (competed in Oratory and Duo Interpretation), four-year member and Team Manager Vastavi Choudhari (competed in Oral Interpretation of Literature, Prose, and Duo Interpretation), first-year member Adam Payne (competed in Radio Speaking), and last but not least four-year member and captain Lucy Daniel (competed in Oral Interpretation of Literature, Poetry, Prose, and Expository Speaking).

One final note: Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, or junior, please consider joining this award-winning HHS Forensics team! If public speaking isn’t your forte, that is totally okay! That skill will be developed during your time on the team and the 2026-2027 executive board and coaches will also be available and a great help in enhancing your self-confidence.

*All information pertaining to the categories and rules of forensics in this article is referenced from the WFCA website, https://www2.wfcaforensics.org/index.php/competition-mainmenu-71/categories-a-rules*