Sophomore Owen Miller qualified for Forensics State in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking [FX] for four consecutive weekends this forensics season.

FX is a seven-minute speech in which a competitor is given 30 minutes of preparation to answer a question regarding international issues.

“It’s a lot of fun learning about international issues that really need to be addressed,” Miller said. “You get to tell a judge about something that’s a real-world issue that’s probably not even relevant to them, and you get to tell them why that matters.”

At the start of the season in January, Miller was not planning on competing in FX until Pittsburg High School’s Speech and Debate coach, Julie Laflen, signed him up for a weekend.

“I really wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was really fun,” Miller said. “It was my first time doing it and I got first, [and] I really like it now.”

Although Forensics State has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Miller says FX will be one of his main events for next season.