By Zoe Staum ’14

Photo Courtesy of Zoe Staum ’14

Most students have never heard of the Lafayette Forensics Team, but one of its superstar speech competitors, Angela Wnek ‘13, demands our attention.

The Forensics Team, or speech and debate, competed last weekend at Emerson College, where Wnek scored became the tournament champion in Dramatic Interpretation, Persuasion and Poetry.

Wnek, who competes in a total of five speech events, has already qualified in everything for the National Forensics Association National Championship Tournament.

A chemical engineering major with a minor in economics, Wnek is always busy balancing her coursework and the demands of competition.

“It’s tough dealing with class and speech,” she said. “It’s tough being at competitions on the weekend. When you are traveling to tournaments, it is literally at least 12 hours a day of competition.” With the little spare time she finds, Wnek even mentors novice speech competitors.

Despite the stress, Wnek is in love with forensics. Her favorite part is how during the speech, “it’s like you are not yourself for that amount of time. When you are doing an event you are a character and it is so much fun.”

“I have always been good at talking,” Wnek continued. “I like the idea of being competitive at something and speech is perfect for me.”

Dramatic interpretation is Wnek’s event of choice, and is where her fondest memories come from. In her freshman year, she made it to quarterfinals at Nationals.

“[Dramatic interpretation] has a special place in my heart,” she beamed.

The bubbly Wnek has such an energetic personality that even a mundane story becomes exciting when she tells it. In the forensics office in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Wnek is often found telling her teammates hilarious accounts of awkward encounters and how she plans to be a future Mrs. Kennedy. With such a welcoming demeanor and enthusiastic storytelling ability, it’s no surprise Wnek’s trophies keep piling up. But winning is not as important to her as the experience itself.

“I like that for ten minutes I get to talk and people have to watch me,” she said with a huge smile. “Outside of speech, people are not really listening to each other and I think that’s too bad.”

Never one to push her way into the spotlight, Wnek insisted she owes a lot of her competitive success to her coaches, Scott Placke and John Boyer.

This weekend, Wnek and the Forensics Team travel to the State Championships. She is the reigning state champion in Prose and Duo.