For most high school forensics teams, placing in the top ten statewide at the end of the year is a significant accomplishment. It’s been well over a decade since Salem High’s forensics team finished outside of the top ten because they have claimed the last 13 class 1 state titles. On the surface, it may appear that students give minimum effort to accomplish such feats. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to head coach Mark Ingerson. Winning any competition, of course, doesn’t happen without putting in the hard work.
“It takes an amazing amount of focus and hard work every single year, especially this time around. Half of our state finalists had never won medals at states. We had seven individual state champions this year,” Ingerson said. “That means that much of our success came from students who previously had not been ‘stars.’ So, to become major contributors this year, they had to overcome past failures, reflect, take critical feedback, and most importantly, improve.”
Ingerson started teaching Modern World History at Salem High in 2000. The following year he began coaching the school’s forensics team. At the start of every year, he tells all of his students the same thing: get better, learn, take feedback and focus on the process of improving. As assistant coach, Pam Carter’s contribution to the team includes assisting in all aspects of operations and administration.
Throughout the year, Ingerson focuses on giving his students feedback on the small details of performance to make them better. Why? “Because it’s all about feedback and improvement. That’s it,” he said. “It’s easier than it sounds, but it is a rather simple formula.”
It was around 2005 when Ingerson realized that he had a special group of students capable of winning multiple state titles.
“I remember one day just thinking, ‘Wow, we can do something special here.’ After that, I think Pam and I realized we started having a lot of confidence in our system,” he said. “We knew how to find good pieces for kids to perform, how to train impromptu speakers and how to train humorous and serious events.”
When asked to describe the concept of forensics to someone who may not be familiar, Ingerson replied, “If you have ever seen someone read a children’s story with all kinds of voices and emotion, that’s forensics. Essentially, it is developing and delivering a great speech.”
Added Ingerson, “American society puts an overwhelming value on athletics. Salem is no different. I’m no different because my daughter is a runner. However, in terms of life skills, public speaking competency will put students so far ahead of their peers in terms of future leadership and life success.”
