ACC Debating and Public Speaking Competition
Years 9 and 10
Wednesday 17th August 2022
At Mazenod, our Debating and Public Speaking teams competed in the annual ACC competition.
It was a real treat to listen to the various public speaking topics that boys from the twelve different ACC schools chose. From passionate concern for the homeless to the dangers of vaping, students were well-researched, and thoughtful. Out team – Marcus Horvat, Vincent Dong and Xavier Spehar – spoke convincingly about making the lives of indigenous Australians better, and about how we have become increasingly reliant on technology. There was also an impromptu component; boys had just a few minutes to prepare a speech on either ‘Being different is what makes the world a better place’ or ‘My favourite day of the year.’ The responses were often humorous but always entertaining. The public speaking part of the competition was won by Salesian College; congratulations to that team for their well-earned success.
Our debating ACC team, Jakob Glenk, Hayden McDonald, Lucas Ciavarella and Patrick Currie had a very successful day, though narrowly missed out on taking the pennant, placing joint second. Their first debate was on a prepared topic, arguing the affirmative case ‘That employers should adopt a 4-day working week’. After winning that debate, their second debate was on an advised topic, ‘Tourism’ and with fifteen minutes to prepare, they successfully debated the negative, ‘That the state government should subsidise tourism to regional Victoria.’ They went into the afternoon focussed and determined, and prepared the affirmative case for the secret topic, ‘That we should fear the development of Artificial Intelligence.’ Special mention to Patrick Currie who was acknowledged as best speaker for two of the three debates.
There are some very talented speakers at SBC and we look forward to their contributions next year.
The next event will be the Junior ACC Debating and Public Speaking Tournament for Year 7 and 8 students) on Monday 7th November and St Bernard’s College will be hosting.
