Last Monday 1st May, the College hosted Round 3 of the Debating Association of Victoria Schools Competition for the Essendon Region. Each year the College hosts all five rounds, and it is just wonderful to feel the positive buzz around the campus with students, teachers and families from all around the area arriving to compete in a very friendly and engaging atmosphere.
To take the heat off senior students, rounds 3, 4 and 5 are traditionally the rounds where Year 11 and 12 teams have a secret topic, with one hour to prepare. The topics last Monday were interesting!
A grade (Year 12) was cancelled due to a lot of illness across the area.
B grade (Year 11) debated ‘That streaming services, like Netflix, should show more non-fiction content than fiction content.’
C grade (Year 10) on an advised topic of Technology, argued ‘That there should be a licence to use the internet.’
The commitment of all the debating students and coaches, the late nights, the lunchtime meetings, and the remote document collaboration have demonstrated such willingness to work closely as team members, all vested in the common goal of putting their best foot forward. It has been a joy to see them develop strong social bonds.
Some of the highlights over the first three rounds include:
The new debating students from Year 8 have hit the ground running. After watching the first round of debates in early March, they worked very well together in preparation for Round two, delivering a mock debate in front of St Bernard’s Debating students and coaches, after school; a new, yet safe environment to launch their public speaking skills. Their speeches served as inspiration for Year nine students who were working on the very same topic that night, and thus, the year eights were able to influence and inspire from their very first attempt. Not only this, but with such an experienced audience, they were able to receive some very productive and constructive feedback. We look forward to hearing from them in Round 4 May 22nd, for their next mock debate. Congratulations to: Oskar Crnognorac, Caden Daly, Shawne Essendi, Julian Filippone, Jeremy Sevenson , Kaelan Perera
A new initiative this year, which has been incredible to witness, is the invitation accepted by our A grade debaters of 2022, whose camaraderie, dedication and generosity of spirit, saw them take time out of their busy university schedules to visit Resurrection House regularly and support Ms Ziino with the two Year 9 Debating teams. Not only have they dropped into Resurrection House during the week but also for hours on debate night, supporting the year nines helping them refine their arguments and providing encouraging advice to help improve their presentation skills. We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Old Collegians Thomas Alessandrini, Taj La Fontaine and Andre Lensjak.
In the front row, one of our D grade teams who won their debate by 4 points on Monday May 1st from the left:
Thomas Antonius, Jhonathan Andres, Kristian Vorrias
In the back row, from the left, ‘Year 13’ Debating Mentors, Old Collegians:
Thomas Alessandrini, Andre Lesnjak and Taj La Fontaine.
Representing the College with pride, our debating students have been gracious in both victory and defeat, in the presence of very supportive families who regularly come along to watch their son develop his critical thinking and verbal reasoning skills.
We wish them very well for the last two remaining rounds and encourage any student who has thought about joining, to answer the call next year because students learn so much, developing their confidence in each round they put themselves forward to debate.
