Debating News

Our debaters power on and rebut setbacks

Mullauna’s debaters did the college proud on Wednesday, May 28. Our D-grade and B-grade teams went to Tintern Grammar to battle it out in the Ringwood division of the Debating Association of Victoria’s competition. Our C-grade team of Year 10s Bella McKinnon, Ethan Blakeman and Georgia Giannaris were already to join them, but at the last moment their opponents forfeited.  

The B-grade team - Year 11s Caitlin Fankhauser, Floyd Dahmen and Teiva Levy – won their debate against Vermont Secondary. The teams had one hour to prepare without any electronic equipment or help from anyone. Mullauna’s team had to oppose the topic: ‘That the government should ban school logos on school uniforms at all schools.’ Caitlin and Floyd scored top individual marks.

In the D-grade team, Christina Nikitin (Year 8) showed great team spirit and resilience by joining the team with just a couple of days to go. She and Year 9s April Stacey and Kasper Leoncelli opposed the topic that Australia should implement a substantial tourist tax. They lost a good debate to Vermont Secondary College. 

Our inter-school debaters showed resilience in the Debating Association of Victoria’s competition at Tintern Grammar on Wednesday, June 18. They coped well with last-minute changes. 

Despite losing two regulars to illness, the B-grade team of Year 11s Caitlin Fankhauser, Oliver Heyme, and Year 10 student Bella McKinnon, won their debate against Yarra Valley Grammar. The team, with Floyd (who helped out even though he had a cough), had an hour to prepare to argue that Australia should not change its national anthem every 50 years. Bella was announced as best speaker. 

Our C-grade team of Ethan Blakeman, Georgia Giannaris and Aidan Vidovic did well in a narrow loss to Yarra Valley Grammar. Aidan stepped in at the last moment when Bella had to debate for the B-grade team. It was the first time they had debated a ‘secret topic’ – one that is only revealed an hour before the debate. They argued for the topic: That school students should be allowed to listen to music during assessment tasks. Like the B-grade team, they had to brainstorm the topic themselves without the help of technology or teachers. Jeremy Jian helped with the brainstorm. Their coach is Ms Davidson.

Our D-grade also showed resilience in their debate against Aquinas College. Year 8 students – Christina Nikitin and Delara Musavi took up the challenge of debating Year 9s. It was Delara’s first inter-school debate. They won the debate, arguing that Australia should not ban the use of herbicides and pesticides in agriculture. Grey Cameron (Year 9) was declared ‘best speaker’. Their coach is Mr Graham.

Mr Howell

Debating Co-ordinator