Due to heavy budget cuts earlier this year, the forensics team has scheduled a fundraising event on Wednesday which will feature the competitive speech talents of team members.

Having a fundraising event is nothing new for forensics team members, who typically plan events like these for its department. However this time around the team is extending their invitation to any and all interested students, at the price of $10 a ticket.

“We usually get $3,000 from our department alone, we would like to think that we could double that,” Francesca Bishop, director of forensics, said.

If the team does succeed in raising $6,000 from the fundraiser, its plan to use the funds to attend one of the few four-year college debates that would otherwise have been cut from the schedule. The competition, the Sunset Cliffs Classic in San Diego, is “the biggest four-year competition we go to and is one of the only times students get to see four-year teams,” Bishop said.

Attending four-year debates like the Sunset Cliffs Classic may require the extra effort of a fundraiser, but Bishop said that it would be beneficial to the team in more ways than just a chance to hone their skills.

“We frequently have team members receive scholarships from these four-year universities, and it’s an important chance to be seen by a national audience,” she said.