Debating

The junior debating program has been very successful during terms three and four this year. Students competed in two formal debates and experienced some success. The topic of the first formal debate was ‘That we should increase funding of the arts’. Madaesya Palavi-Lyons, Vivian Vu and Patrick Shaw debated in the affirmative against Overnewton Anglican College and they won the debate by two points. Congratulations to Patrick who was awarded best speaker. Iqra Siddique, Dea Vidovic and Kathryn Chenh also debated in the affirmative against Overnewton Anglican College, though they lost by one point. Hafsa Ahmed, Thomas Pozzan and Ian Alcantara debated in the affirmative and won by one point against Sam La, Jason Huynh and Jack Schoen. Ian Alcantara was awarded best speaker. Kevin Lieu, Jason Phuong and Vivienne Doan debated in the affirmative against Sirius College and narrowly lost the debate by one point and finally, Cindy Dang, Cindy Nguyen and Justin Vom debated in the negative against Overnewton Anglican College and they were defeated by one point.

The second formal debate took place during week 2 of term 4. The topic was ‘That parents should have access to their child’s social media accounts’. St Albans students must have strong feelings about this topic as they had a very successful evening winning all debates except for one which was a debate between two St Albans teams. Vivianne Doan, Sam La and Jack Schoen argued in the affirmative and defeated Overnewton Anglican College by one point. Mehak Nagi, Kevin Chung and Ian Alcantara also argued in the affirmative against Overnewton Anglican College and won the debate by two points. Well done Ian for being awarded best speaker yet again. Cindy Nguyen, Jason Phuong and Iqra Siddique debated in the negative against Overnewton Anglican College and they won by one point. Congratulations Iqra for being named best speaker. Finally Jennifer Co, Dea Vidivic and Thomas Pozzan defeated Mathilda Van Keulen, Jason Huynh and Justin Vom by two points. Dea was awarded best speaker. Well done to all of the Year 7 and 8 students that participated in the junior program and I hope to see you participating in the Schools Competition next year.

2016 Swannie Awards

On Monday the 17 October I had the pleasure of attending the Debaters Association of Victoria Swannie awards. The Swannie is presented to the best speakers in each region and grade of the Schools Competition. Lani Nguyen of Year 10 received her award for being the highest scoring Year 10 speaker in the Coburg Region. The Ceremony was held at Methodists Ladies College and the guest speaker was The Honourable Justice Bernard Teague. He talked about his career as a Solicitor and a Supreme Court Judge. He also mentioned that he participated in debating 62 years ago at De La Salle College and how he learned valuable skills that helped him in many aspects of his education and career.

Congratulations Lani on an outstanding performance this year. Lani debated for the first time last year and like many of the members of the debating team, has improved significantly.

Ms Nicole Carbonaro

Debating Coordinator