Nearly 400 children join PGFC’s regional contest

Nearly 400 students from kindergarten to sixth grade joined the regional primary forensic league competition held at Marianas High School on Saturday.

Approximately 800 entries from various contest categories entered the final competition, which qualifies ribbon winners in the last four preliminary rounds of PGFC.

The event was organized by the National Forensic League Board and supported by the CNMI Public School System.

According to Harold Easton, chairman of the NFL board, there has been a rising trend in the number of participants every year.

“This marked the fifth year for PGFC and we’re noting bigger turnouts every year,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Students competed in the following contest categories: dramatic, humorous interpretation, duo, impromptu, choral speaking, and reader’s forum.

Five winners were named for each category per grade level where medals were awarded to the top three and ribbons for fourth and fifth placers.

Unlike the national forensic league, which is also organized by the NFL board, the PGFC has no national event that it can send delegates to.

Easton said it is the event’s objective to encourage and develop other skills of students besides the academic.

“Little kids need to learn forensic, to stand and speak in front of people, learn how to articulate and boost their confidence. It is also a way to promote appreciation of literature,” he said.

Easton noted that participants are becoming increasingly competitive each year.

Saturday’s event draw hundreds of spectators, mostly composed of families giving support to their children.

While the competition proper were ongoing in the classrooms, kids of all ages were also seen enjoying going around the campus, mingling with their friends and playmates while parents were assisting and watching their kids’ performances.

A fifth grader from San Antonio Elementary, Annabele Manzo, said she is always excited about PGFC.

She competed both in oral speaking and reader’s forum where she hoped to win honors.

Like other students in the event, Manzo said she wants to become a better public speaker.

During the final round of a reader’s forum category, 5-year-old Holly Sarah Liban of Golden Harvest International School had the audience under her spell in her interpretative performance The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe.

She said she hopes to get the gold medal.