Buller High School wins Kahurangi-Marlborough Regionals
The Kahurangi-Marlborough Russell McVeagh Secondary Schools’ Debating Championships for 2014 took place on Saturday March 8th at Garin College in Nelson. Attended by 20 teams from nine schools around the region, the competition saw four rounds of high quality debating before the break to separate junior and senior finals.
During the preliminary rounds all teams debated the same motions, covering topics from whether Te Reo should be compulsory in all schools, or prisoners allowed to raise their children behind bars, to bans on alcohol advertising at sporting events and plastic surgery. All debates where completely limited preparation, and the adjudicators were impressed with the level of debating talent shown as all teams got their teeth into the competition.
A clean break in the senior division saw John Paul II High School team 1 and Buller High School go through to the final as the only two teams on four wins. Debating the motion ‘This House would re-elect the National Government’, the affirming team of Samatha Kingsbury, Leroy Moynihan and Georgina-Lomax Sawyers defeated Eilish Ramsden, Josh Copp and Gabby O’Brien on the negative to bring home the Jeremy Johnson cup for Buller High School.
Grand Final Adjudication
Winning team – Buller High
In the junior final Dan Merry, Hugo Peckam and James Crosbie of Nelson College faced off against Nayland College’s junior team of Fynn Sawyer, Indigo Levett and Andre Castaing to debate ‘This House believes that New Zealand needs a new flag’. After strong performances from speakers on both sides, the negating team from Nayland College won the debate to take home the Sounds Air Cup for 2014.
Winning Junior Team – Nayland College
Individual speaker awards followed the finals, with Hugo Lawrence (Nelson College), Georgina Lomax-Sawyers (Buller High School) and Lucy Upton (Nelson College for Girls) selected as the Kahurangi-Marlborough Regional Team to compete at the 2014 National Championships. Josh Copp of John Paul II High School and Fynn Sawyer of Nayland College were selected as reserves to the team.
Highly Commended awards went to Will Garland (Motueka High School), Luke Cambus (Greymouth High School), Caleb Box (Nayland College) and Nicholas Erasmussen (Garin College). The best junior speaker, and winner of the Carpe Argumentum cup, was Fynn Sawyer of Nayland College, and Hugo Lawrence of Nelson College was named Best Speaker of the competition.
With a high level of debating ability displayed by both junior and speakers from regular entrants and schools newer to the competition alike, the future of debating looks strong for Kahurangi-Marlborough and this year’s regional competition was a definite success. It could not have gone so well without all the students, teachers and parents who either participated or supported their school teams, so thank you all for giving up your time and bringing your enthusiasm to the day. In particular, thanks to Justine Butler and Kim Pope of host school Garin College for their hard work in ensuring the day ran smoothly, and thanks also to all those Garin College students who helped prepare and tidy rooms for the day.
This year, Port Nelson came on board to sponsor the regional competition, so a big thank you to them for their support as well as to Sounds Air for their ongoing sponsorship of the regional team. Finally, thanks are due to all the adjudicators who travelled to Nelson from around the country to judge debates: Desley Horton, Corinne Marti, Christopher Bishop, Sarah Hoffmann, Erin Jackson, Nicky Allely, Jeremy Bell-Connell, Polly Higbee, Jodie O’Neill, and Scott Fletcher.
Kimberley Savill
Regional Convenor 2014