Students in Running for Forensics Title

In the space of nine minutes and about 20 seconds, Alan Loayza physically becomes an old man, a detective, a woman, an English butler, a deceptive villain and a guy ordering a pizza.

That’s all in a day’s work for Loayza, a Cleveland High School senior who took second place last weekend in the humor category of the qualifying tournament for the National Forensic League Championships, held at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance.

Acting out a scene from radio, Alan was bested only by one of his own teammates, Megwynn White, a junior.

In all, nine Cleveland students will go to Fayetteville, N.C., in June for the national competition. They are Alan and Megwynn in the humor category; seniors Pauline Yasuda and Zina Zaflow in the drama category; senior Adrian Herrera and freshman Ben Zaitlan and senior Andrea Collins and sophomore Stacy Endman in the duo interpretation category, and junior Micah Lapidus in the foreign extemporaneous category. Stacy also qualified in the category of original oratory.

The school’s forensics acumen is directly attributable to Sarah Rosenberg, the school’s speech and debate coach, said Zina.

“She’s the mastermind behind it,” Zina said, explaining that Rosenberg guides about 40 speech students through scenes that they will work on for a year, perfecting mannerisms, movements, drama levels, diction and accents.

For Zina--whose drama scene is titled “The Day They Shot John Lennon”--the allure of speech competitions is the opportunity to perform.

“I love being in front of a crowd and controlling their emotions for 10 minutes,” she said. “I’m a big ham.”