The Pennsylvania High School Speech League is a high school forensics league. The PHSSL state championship takes place yearly in March at Bloomsburg University. Each qualifying event contains 2 qualifiers from each district throughout Pennsylvania, and the non-qualifying events have one student from each participating school.
PHSSL was founded in 1961, by Dr. Robert E. Dunham, to promote speaking throughout the entire state of Pennsylvania at Penn State University. The actual championship took place at Susquehanna University from 1992 through 2016. The PA High School Speech League moved to Bloomsburg University in June, 2016. The championship has always been considered the "state championship" in Pennsylvania by allowing all schools to compete regardless of state affiliation.
The Pennsylvania High School Speech League publishes its own newsletter which is titled "The Communicator". PHSSL uses "The Communicator" to put forth information regarding leadership in the organization, plans, and records of student performance in the state championship.
The Pennsylvania High School Speech League chooses the officers in the organization based on their merit and dedication to promoting forensics. The election of officers is a democratic process. As of June 2023, the current leaders include:
PHSSL has created a hall of fame for great participants, coaches, and supporters of forensics. The Pennsylvania High School Speech League's hall of fame came into existence in 1986, and has inducted at least one member ever since.
PHSSL features many events, most of which are qualified for at district tournaments, but which can also be qualified for using the bid system. A list of events from the PHSSL Website:
Drama: Competition in drama is held at the regional and state levels. A school performs a one-act play or cutting of a longer work with more than two characters. Two schools advance from each region to the state finals. Competitions are held during the first semester.
Policy Debate: A clash of two, two-person teams, one affirmative and one negative, on the annual national policy resolution. The affirmative presents a case for change in the present system. The negative supports the present system or a counter-proposal for change.
Public Forum Debate: A clash of two 2-person teams, one pro and one con on a contemporary resolution. National topics change every month.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: A clash of two debaters, one affirmative and one negative, on a values topic.
Parliamentary Debate: A clash of two 3-person teams, one for the resolution and one against the resolution. Rounds can be either on a prepared topic or an impromptu topic chosen 30 minutes before the start of the round. Topics are chosen by the Executive Board for the District and State Tournaments.
Oral Interpretation of Poetry: A contestant interprets with script in hand one or more poems. Time limit: 10 minutes.
Oral Interpretation of Prose: A contestant interprets with script in hand a cutting from a short story or novel. Time limit: 10 minutes.
Dramatic Interpretation: A contestant chooses a cutting from a serious play and memorizes it. The student recreates the scene using appropriate gestures and voices. Time limit: 10 minutes.
Humorous Interpretation: A contestant chooses a cutting from a humorous play and memorizes it. The student recreates the scene using appropriate gestures and voices. Time limit: 10 minutes.
Informative Speaking: Original speeches teach or explain a concept or idea. Time limit: 7 minutes.
Extemporaneous Speaking: A contestant is provided three current events topic on politics, economics, or culture to choose from and selects one. Preparation time: 30 minutes. Time limit: 7 minutes.
Persuasive Speaking: Original speeches convince the audience. Time limit: 10 minutes.
Extemporaneous Commentary: A continuation of both extemporaneous and persuasive speaking. It can be both informative and advocative. Knowledge of events and some history is required. Contestants seated at a table or desk for the presentation. Preparation time: 30 minutes. Time limit: 7 minutes.
Duo Interpretation of Literature: “Literature” is defined as a single stage, screen, television, radio play, fictional or non-fictional work or poem. All selections must be published or commercially available in print, audio, or video form. Time limit: 10 minutes.
In addition, competition in the following events are held at the state level only:
News Broadcasting: A pair of contestants present a two-minute news broadcast. In subsequent rounds, prepared scripts are used.
Impromptu Speaking: In a limited amount of time a student prepares a brief speech on topics such as proverbs, aphorisms or quotations. Preparation time: 5 minutes. Time limit: 5 minutes.
Student Congress: In this event students take on the roles of legislators. Using parliamentary procedure, students debate bills and resolutions on current issues.
Olyphant is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is six miles (10 km) northeast of downtown Scranton, on the Lackawanna River in the heart of the anthracite region of the state. Its main source of employment was the mining and shipping of coal. It was the headquarters of the Lackawanna Coal Company. Other industries of the past were the manufacturing of blasting powder, iron and steel goods, cigars, and silks. Olyphant experienced a severe downturn in the 1950s. There was once a thriving garment industry with numerous dress factories in the downtown area. There was also a slaughterhouse. Until 2018, the biggest industry was Cinram the manufacture of compact discs (CD) and digital video discs (DVD). The population was 5,395 at the 2020 census.
The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is a speech and debate league that was formed in 1951. It is organized into regions that correspond to Roman Catholic dioceses. Member schools include both public and parochial high schools. The NCFL recruits member schools in both the United States and Canada. As of January, 2011, there were 65 active dioceses with NCFL leagues. The IRS recognizes the NCFL as an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable donations.
Congressional Debate is a competitive interscholastic high school debate event in the United States. The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) and many state associations and national invitational tournaments offer Congressional Debate as an event. Each organization and tournament offers its own rules, although the National Speech and Debate Association has championed standardization since 2007, when it began to ask its districts to use one of a number of procedures for qualification to its National Tournament.
Individual events in speech include public speaking, limited preparation, acting and interpretation are a part of forensics competitions. These events do not include the several different forms of debate offered by many tournaments. These events are called individual events because they tend to be done by one person unlike debate which often includes teams. This distinction however is not entirely accurate any more given the addition of duo interpretation events and forms of single person debate. Competitive speech competitions and debates comprise the area of forensics. Forensics leagues have a number of speech events, generally determined by geographical region or league preference. While there are several key events that have been around a long time, there are several experimental events around the country every year that can be limited to individual tournaments. Forensics leagues in the United States includes the National Speech and Debate Association, the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association, the American Forensics Association, the National Forensics Association, the Interstate Oratorical Association and Stoa USA. Organized competitions are held at the high-school and collegiate level. Outside of the rules for each event provided by the individual leagues, there are several cultural norms within each region that are not written into law but are almost always followed. Rules for time limits vary by event and by individual tournaments, but there are penalties in every event for exceeding the time limits though the severity of the penalty widely varies.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles on people, places, and things related to Pennsylvania in the United States.
The Diocese of Greensburg is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Western Pennsylvania in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The Texas Forensic Association (TFA) is an organization that provides and regulates competition in speech and debate (forensics) for Texas high school students. The association authorizes forensics competitions nearly every weekend in Texas for the duration of the forensics season, which lasts from early August until the end of February, with the State competition typically in the first or second week of March.
Grand National Speech and Debate Tournament is the premier public speaking event of the National Catholic Forensic League. It is held annually in the United States over Memorial Day weekend. One can qualify for the tournament by performing sufficiently well in a local qualifying tournament.
Northeastern Pennsylvania is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Carbondale. A portion of this region is located in the New York City metropolitan area. Recently, Pennsylvania tourism boards have described Northeastern Pennsylvania as Upstate Pennsylvania.
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League is an interscholastic athletic association in Western Pennsylvania. It is District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Holy Ghost Preparatory School is a Catholic college-preparatory high school for young men in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, United States. Congregation of the Holy Spirit missionaries founded the school in 1897.
Harry S Truman High School, formerly Woodrow Wilson High School, is a public high school located in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The school is a part of the Bristol Township School District in Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is its only high school. It was named after US President Harry S Truman. The principal is Jon Craig.
Scranton Preparatory School is a co-educational Jesuit high school located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Flyers Cup is an annual high school ice hockey tournament held by the Philadelphia Flyers. The first Flyers Cup was organized by the Flyers' Hockey Central organization in 1980, sponsored by the Pepsi Cola Bottlers of the Delaware Valley. It was held at the University of Pennsylvania's Class of '23 Rink until relocating to the Haverford Skatium in 1984.
Joseph Francis Martino is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2009. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1996 to 2003.
Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit #16 (CSIU), located in the Milton Industrial Park, Milton, Pennsylvania, was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1971 as one of 29 Intermediate Units in the commonwealth. Intermediate units serve a given geographic area's educational needs and function as a step of organization above that of a public school district, but below that of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The state's goal is for IU's to meet student and community needs in a cost-effective manner by providing services best offered on a regional basis such as special education, technical education, services to public and nonpublic schools. IN 2016-17 the CSIU16 budget is $76.7 million for programs and services and $1,073,846 General operating budget.
Danville High School is located at 733 Ironmen Lane, Danville, Pennsylvania. The school is part of the Danville Area School District. The high school serves fragments of two rural Pennsylvania counties. In Montour County the school serves the Boroughs of Danville and Washingtonville and Cooper Township, Derry Township, Liberty Township, Mahoning Township, Mayberry Township, Valley Township and West Hemlock Township. In Northumberland County it covers the Borough of Riverside and Rush Township. In 2018, the principal of the school is Jeremy Winn and the assistant principal is Ms. Amy Willoughby.
As of the 2022-2023 and the 2023-2024 school years, there are 555 high school football teams competing in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association's (PIAA)12 Districts. Each district is divided into numerous leagues and conferences. Up until the end of the 2015-16 school year, there were only four classifications, ranging from Class A to Class AAAA. At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, an update took place and the PIAA added two additional classifications, making six total.