(Written by Akshay)
For those of you coming back as a Varsity member, here’s a little note to start preparing for next season:
For Varsity auditions, it is required that everyone comes in with a script prepared beforehand (unless you’re in limited prep, of course). On that note, while this is by no means required, it would be helpful to attend a Speech Camp over the summer.
Here are a few options:
Neuqua’s Summer Camp: This is a week long camp hosted by (you guessed it!) Neuqua. It’s a good opportunity to fine-tune skills, get ahead on a piece for the season, and get some (a lot) of extra help from people who know the categories well.
Bradley Summer Forensics Institute (SFI): This is a more expensive option, but also offers much more specialized training in one category over a two-week period of time. It is located at Bradley University (if you didn’t guess by the name), and many returning team members have experience here. Ask them for more information!
Illinois State University Summer Speech Institute: Most members of our team historically have gone to Bradley only, but we’ve been told that ISU is a good choice for a speech camp as well. The only current member of our team who has been to ISU’s camp is Jonathan K. (in Extemp), and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions that you may have about it. Note that this camp and Bradley’s camp overlap, so you could NOT do both unless you’re some sort of wizard.
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Once again, you are by no means required to attend any of these camps — we have a lot of team members who do not and still do very well. However, they are an excellent way to hone your skills, get ahead before next season, or even try out a new category to help you figure out what you think you’re best suited in.