WAYNE, Neb. -- "One of the things that I always tell the students is to speak your truth,” said Director of Forensics Jonathan Laner. 

Wayne State College's Forensics Team is continuing their successful speech competition season this semester after placing in multiple categories at the Hastings Broncobash earlier this month. 

The team scored third in the duo category with a pair of students who have been working together for three years, bettering their work. 

"The sort of sibling dynamic that we do have just helps us be way more comfortable with sort of going outside of our comfort zones in terms of acting, doing different things, we're comfortable enough with each other that we trust each other to do those things,” said senior Kirsten Fike.  

Despite the positive season, junior Brayden Almgren said that they have come along way since their start years ago. 

"The first year was very intimidating,” Almgren said. “We definitely stepped outside of our shells our second year and just decided to try something new, but that didn't really work out, so now we're kind of back to our roots doing what we know how to do."

New member and freshman Corbin Kinney said that having Forensics is essential to students and should be taught through different levels education. 

"I feel like it should be implemented like as a requirement because there is a lot of helpful benefits from it,” Kinney said. “Yes, it's scary and it's very nerve racking, but it helps in the end." 

Laner explains the important of Forensics as it helps students even upon adulthood after graduation as he sees speech is one of the most vital skills. 

"It's wonderful because they're less nervous to get up and like for their future professions, they're more, it's those soft skills that employers are looking for in their future hires,” Laner said.  

WSC placed third in the team sweepstakes and will close out the semester at "Final Stage", and will return next semester to compete at state and then nationals.  

"And so, it's very nice to see that they're getting recognized for speaking what truth they want to speak,” Laner said.