On  October 9, the Forensic Speech team competed at the Byram Hills invitational. Junior Daniel Teleshevsky led the team in Extemporaneous speaking, and finished a whopping 3rd in the entire tournament. Extemporaneous speaking is an event in which a speaker grabs a topic from a fishbowl. That speaker then has 30 minutes to research, create, and prepare a whole new speech a seven minute long persuasive speech which he or she then delivers to the judges without the speech in hand. Daniel did an exemplary job scoring one point from first. 

Teleshevsky says, “I do a practice round with Mr. Schleifer choosing a topic and mirroring conditions.” He has continued this practice which has resulted in excellent finishes in state and league competitions. He also spends the last 10 minutes practicing his speech to have a better understanding of what he is trying to say.  His unique strategy also helps him do very well in Extemp.

Teleshesky says, “The topics are usually very specific topics about foreign countries. I usually try to relate the topic to American politics.” With topics ranging from Libya’s current civil war to Georgian borders, it can be hard for outsiders to understand. This allows for the judge to better grasp the topic and to have a personal connection with the topic. His favorite speech was about the Georgian borders with Azerbaijan.

Teleshevsky hopes to compete in more competitions and to perform better in the future. His aim is to get his qualifications for the State and National championships.