Debating

On the 6th of August we all attended our last debate at Coburg High. Noah and I have been debating since Year 7, and Isabel joined a couple years ago to help us out. Our team has changed along the way, with honorable mentions to Esther, Edie and Clea, who have all been involved in our team as well over the years. 

Debating at Northcote has been an amazing experience, getting to meet new people from our year level during the first few years, and then joining the DAV competitions in Year 8. Throughout the years we have met many debaters and like-minded individuals, with the DAV competitions being a way to connect with other students from other schools that have similar interests to our own. From year 8 to year 11 we participated in the DAV competition in the Ivanhoe region and then the Coburg region this year.  

Debating has allowed us to develop many skills that we can use outside of high school such as public speaking, thinking on the spot and learning how to create an argument. These are definitely skills that we will use in the workplace and in our lives in general.  

Every year we have participated in at least 5 debates, but a highlight for us is when we got into the DAV finals in Year 10. This is when we were one of the top 16 teams in the state (and the last public school team in the finals). This was an amazing opportunity and was very exciting, as it was the furthest round we had gotten into so far. We have also gotten into the DAV playoffs twice, which was very exciting as well.  

Overall, being a part of the debating team at Northcote has been a big part of our time here at Northcote and we have enjoyed every moment of it, growing as a team and learning to work with each other and bounce off of each other’s ideas.  

We would like to thank the amazing debating team, in particular Mr Tucker, Mr Ramsay and Ms Balis who have helped us out over the years and helped develop our debating skills.