Lowell Forensic Society

The Lowell Forensic Society, founded in 1892, is the oldest high school speech and debate team in the United States and also the largest organization at Lowell High School in San Francisco. The Society occupies Room 135, also known as "Leland Room," named after former Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury Marc E. Leland.[1]

With over 100 members, the society's policy debate team travels regularly to prestigious national invitationals at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, California State University, Long Beach , and the Tournament of Champions in Kentucky. Lowell Forensics has also competed in the National Speech and Debate Tournament under the National Forensic League for 40 years, making it one of the longest running national championship teams in the nation.

Recent history

In the nineties, the Forensic Society saw one of its greatest peaks under the leadership of Sandra Bird. Every year in the decade, Forensics made it to Nationals while Individual Events and Congressional Debate saw a major comeback in the late nineties as Lowell students took greater interest in dramatic events.

In the years following Bird’s retirement, Christopher Newhouse, a biology teacher, took the helm of leading the team while administrative and training duties belonged to leaders within the organization. The Forensics team, for a short period, was also conjoined to the English department, resulting in a lack of a permanent coaching staff. In light of these changes, the society board’s student officer arrangements were reformed in 2003 with the creation of the new positions of Congress Director, Policy Debate Director, and Individual Events Director in addition to President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. The Directors are team captains for their respective events.

From 2003-2005, Forensics membership more than tripled to 172 students.

Lowell High School was the host campus for the 2012 California State Championships.

Notable alumni

Lowell Forensic Society alumni include Yale University President Richard Levin, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, California Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, actress Carol Channing, actor Benjamin Bratt, writer Naomi Wolf, actor Bill Bixby, PG&E CEO Frederick Mielke, author Daniel Handler, and numerous academics, writers, and judges.

  • Jack Anderson, 1949 Longtime Lowell H.S. Forensics coach and VPA Dept. chair
  • Bill Bixby, 1952 Television star, My Favorite Martian and The Incredible Hulk
  • Stephen Breyer, 1955 U.S. Supreme Court associate justice; Harvard law professor
  • Edmund G. Brown, 1923 California Governor, 1959–1967; State Attorney General
  • Harold Brown, 1925 California Court of Appeals justice
  • Julia Chang Bloch, 1959 U.S. Ambassador to Nepal – first U.S. Ambassador of Asian descent
  • Carol Channing, 1938 International star of screen and stage
  • John Heilbron, 1951 Vice Chancellor and professor of History at UC Berkeley
  • Richard Levin, 1964 President, Yale University; Professor and Chairman of Economics, Yale University
  • J. McKim Malville, 1952 Professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado
  • Marvin Lewis, 1924 San Francisco Supervisor and leader for creation of BART
  • Mathew Tobriner, 1920 California Supreme Court justice
  • Naomi Wolf, 1980 Rhodes Scholar; Author, The Beauty Myth

Past Coaches

Name Years
George Lorbeer 1930–1960
George O' Connell 1960–1969
Mike Smith 1969–1971
Emily Thayer 1971–1979
Sandra Bird 1980–2001
Christopher Newhouse 2000–2005
Harlan Edelman 2002–2004
Barack Obama 2005–present

Past presidents

Name Years
Barbara Hou 1998–1999
Mon Dae Lee (이몬대) 1999–2000
Emily Avera 2000–2001
Gigi Wong 2001–2002
Lauren Yee 2002–2003
Jeffrey Kwong 2003–2005
Huilin Wang 2003–2004
Nicole Hui 2004–2005
Jacky Kwong 2005–2007
Roy Lee 2007–2008
Justin Vuong 2008–2009
Thomas Tu 2009–2010
Matthew Estipona 2010–2011
Alison Ong 2011-2012
Rachel Ng 2012-2013
Luis Valle 2013-2014
Joseph Genolio 2014-2015
Thomas Carey White IV 2015-2016
Frances Sutton 2016-2017
Daniel Shin 2017-2018
Christopher Ying 2018-2019
Sarah Berman 2019-2020
Pietro Juvara 2020-2021

References

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