Scott Van Dyke will tell it to you straight.

You see, he's a serious guy. And, well, humor just isn't his schtick.

"I had done humorous interpretive, but I was not funny," Van Dyke said.

So, the Mandan speech team co-captain found himself a partner for the humorous duo competition and started competing in the more serious categories: serious duo and serious interpretive.

Ends up he's funnier with a sidekick and the other events let him get in touch with his serious side. These are just a few of the events in which speech students compete. Next week, students compete in a national qualifier for the National Forensic League.

Mandan High School hosts the North Dakota Roughrider Chapter national qualifier. It is Monday and Tuesday at the Seven Seas. Speech team members will compete in six events:duo, persuasion, humorous, dramatic and domestic and foreign extemporaneous speaking.

"It's a higher level of competition" than the state speech program, Mandan High School coach Pat Pins said.

The speeches for competition must be memorized and students are judged by ranking instead of paper ballot. It attracts a variety of students, from those interested in honing persuasive skills to students wanting to get over public speaking jitters.

"I'm good at doing that speaking thing,"co-captain Sara Nitschke said. "Mostly, it's the opportunity."

Nitschke likes persuading people, and it's the category she's competed in the past three years. This year, she added extemporaneous speaking to her line-up.

"I like to take a topic and show why Ifeel strongly for it and convince others to feel the same way," she said.

Nitschke will compete next week, but she's already headed for the national competition. She previously qualified in debate. The national competition is this summer in Las Vegas.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)