EMC Debating Club

Elisabeth Murdoch College's brand new debating club has been a success. The Year 9 debating team has shown EMC's ability to expand academic extracurricular activities. 

Our Year 9 debaters: Jack Boyle, Sofia Butrev, Caitlin Amery, and Neven Petronijevic have out debated some of the top private schools in the Mornington Peninsula. Starting this year, Elisabeth Murdoch College has joined the Debaters Association of Victoria, and with the success that the Year 9's have had within their competitions, we may be sending four students to the state finals. 

Elisabeth Murdoch College has been placed in the division of Mount Eliza, competing against schools such as Peninsula Grammar, Toorak College, Woodleigh and Dromana Secondary College. There are 8 teams in the Year 9 division, with each team competing in five debates throughout the year. The team who finishes on top of the ladder will automatically advance to the state playoffs (finals), which will begin in August. All teams have now completed 4 of 5 debates as of Tuesday the 4th of June. Our Year 9 EMC team have competed against some of the toughest competition in the region. In the first round, EMC debated against Peninsula Grammar, with the topic "That schools should ban contact sports", in which EMC was the affirmative team. The debate was extremely close, with each speaker (Jack, Caitlin and Sofia) scoring respectable scores of 74, 76, 76. Unfortunately, with a score of 226 to 227, Peninsula Grammar came out as the winner by a single point. Congratulations to Sofia Butrev for being awarded speaker of the debate with a score of 76.

In an extraordinary display of resilience, the team worked hard to improve their debating before the second and third rounds with support from the debating club founder Lachlan Culton and the debating coordinator, Ms Colette Joannidis. All four speakers debated in at least one of these two rounds. Round 2 was against another team from Peninsula Grammar, which EMC won 227 to 225. Sofia Butrev was once again speaker of the debate with a score of 77. From this round onwards, the Year 9's had began their winning streak. Round 3 was against Toorak College, and the team had another close victory of 228 to 225. Neven Petronijevic was awarded speaker of the debate with a score of 76. He worked extremely hard in his preparation and remained calm during his rebuttals and arguments. Following the third round, Elisabeth Murdoch College was now on top of the ladder for the Year 9 division of Mount Eliza.

Round 4, on Tuesday the 4th of June was extremely important for the team, as if they were to win they would be guaranteed a spot in the 1st - 2nd super round. The super round is the 5th and final round where each team plays the team adjacent to them on the ladder. If EMC finishes on top of the ladder after the first four rounds, then they will compete against second on the ladder in order to decide who will go through to the finals. The fourth round was against Woodleigh, who were in 6th position prior to the debate. The three speakers for EMC were Jack Boyle, Neven Petronijevic and Caitlin Amery. The topic was "That Australian Government elections should be conducted online," in which EMC was the affirmative team. All three debaters, with the assistance of team member Sofia Butrev and debate captain Lachlan Culton ensured every speaker was prepared. All speakers delivered amazing speeches and stayed confident throughout. The adjudicator acknowledged that it was a high quality debate, and ultimately he awarded EMC their highest score of the tournament of 229, compared to Woodleigh's 227. Each speaker scored high scores of 76, 77, 76. Once again, congratulations to Neven Petronijevic for being awarded speaker of the debate. 

This result has ensured that the team will advance to the super round against either Peninsula Grammar (1) or Dromana Secondary College on July 23rd . Each and every debater should be extremely proud of themselves for this achievement.

A big thank you to all family and friends for their overwhelming support for the team, and a big thank you to Colette Joannidis for her assistance with the competitions.

Kind regards,

Lachlan Culton.