Think of it as similar to the speech class that most college students dread, only on a much larger scale.

Instead of a single classroom with 25 students and an instructor, there are students from 13 schools using dozens of classrooms with judges instead of instructors.

When competitors gather for a forensics meet, they’re trying for more than simply a good grade – they’re trying to qualify for one of two national tournaments in April.

Senior Scott Boras knows what it takes to qualify for the national tournament. In his fourth year on the UW-Eau Claire forensics team, Boras has qualified for both national tournaments in every year of his career, including this year.

One of two seniors on this year’s team, Boras went into this season with a little bit of “senioritis,” but that hasn’t affected his dedication to the competition.

“Forensics is such a demanding activity,” Boras said. “It takes away from part of the college experience. But forensics has enhanced my accomplishments tenfold.”

One of the benefits of competing in forensics for Boras has been the chance to travel around the country. Forensics has brought Boras to places such as Georgia, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Ohio, as well as all around the Midwest. This year, the national tournaments in April will be held at the University of Mississippi and Ball State (Ohio) University.

Boras joined forensics at the start of his sophomore year at Eau Claire. After taking a speech class his freshman year, he was recruited by other team members.

Boras competed in forensics for four years in high school, saying he signed up on a whim. He didn’t join his freshman year at Eau Claire because he wanted get into the college atmosphere.

After joining the team his sophomore year, Boras said he spaced out his classes so he could compete in forensics for four years.

Boras is majoring in creative writing, something that he brings into his competitions. Unlike many competitors, Boras writes much of the material he performs at meets.

“Seeing people react to my writing is part of the flavor,” Boras said. “It’s nice to be able to write something and get an immediate reaction.”

Karen Morris, the director of forensics, called Boras a “wonderful writer,” saying the fact that Boras writes much of his own material makes his accomplishments much more impressive.

“His original work is being compared to published works,” Morris said. “Sometimes judges look at a piece differently if they know it’s an original work, so he uses a lot of pseudonyms.”

Boras has also had work published in NOTA and has read pieces at poetry slams, but many of his writings go toward his forensics competitions.

“About half of the creative stuff I write is for forensics,” he said. “It’s my passion. It’s what I’m good at, and I take my creative writing very seriously.”

That serious nature is evident around the younger members of the team. Many of the younger team members look up to Boras. Morris said that the younger members have been hesitant to approach him to ask questions.

“They see him perform, and see that he’s very talented, and they get a little intimidated,” Morris said. “They see him do something, then come up to me to ask what he was doing.”

Boras agreed that some of his younger teammates seemed to be intimidated by him.

“I think they used to be a little scared of me,” he said. “I’m very competitive overall.”

Boras’ competitiveness has paid off in the form of qualifying for nationals four times.

Competitors qualify for nationals by competing in meets like the one that Eau Claire hosted Saturday, featuring 13 teams from around the Midwest.

After the first round of competitions at a meet, six finalists from each event are posted. Points are earned for each individual’s performance in the preliminary and final rounds, and those results are added up to help a person qualify for nationals in an event.

At the national meet, Boras compared the announcement of the winners to a beauty pageant. Judges line up the finalists, and call one name at a time until only the winner is left.

“Standing there at nationals was one of the most nervous, exciting and fulfilling achievements of my life,” he said.

Boras hopes to be in that situation again in April, when both the American Forensics Association and the National Forensics Association hold their national tournaments. Once nationals pass, Boras will be looking at graduation and enrolling in graduate school.

“I want to be a teacher at some level,” he said. “I hope to be an English professor or a writing professor.”

Wherever he ends up going to graduate school, Boras said he’ll be able to coach the forensics team while he’s pursuing his master’s degree. And he knows how much of a workload that will be.

“That’s why I have senioritis right now,” he said. “But I’ve been so happy this year.”