Last month Team New Zealand has spent three weeks in Panama preparing for and competing at the World Schools’ Debating Championships 2025. Keep reading to learn more about their stellar performance!
In 2025 New Zealand was represented by:
- Isabella McKeefry (Captain, Havelock North High School)
- Alan Chen (St Kentigern College)
- Bruce Zhang (Macleans College)
- Sebastian Heine-Sheldrake (Scots College)
- Sam Allan (Burnside High School)
The team was coached by Harper Smith and Melissa Connolly, and 2022 Team New Zealand Captain Janet Guo attended as our judge.
Round 1 we were proposition against Team India on the first prepared motion “This House Believes That Panama should replace the US dollar with its own independent currency”. In a close debate Team New Zealand lost 3-0.
Round 2 we were opposition against Team Russia on the second prepared motion “This House Believes That courts should not defer to administrative agencies in statutory interpretation.” In a lively debate Team New Zealand won 3-0.
Round 3 we were opposition against Team Denmark on the motion “This House Opposes the prominence of celebrity conflict* in pop culture *examples include beef on X (formerly Twitter), rap battles, roasts, etc.” In a spirited debate Team New Zealand won 3-0.
Round 4 we were proposition against Team Vietnam on the motion “This House Supports European countries gradually withdrawing from NATO and establishing an independent military presence.” In a close debate Team New Zealand won 3-0.
Round 5 we were proposition against Team China on the third prepared motion “This House Supports the Holy See recognizing the underground Catholic church in China, rather than the government-sanctioned church.”. In a very high quality debate, Team New Zealand won 3-0.
Round 6 we were opposition against Team Pakistan on the motion “This House believes that sports leagues should fund 'loyalty bonuses' for accomplished professional athletes who remain with their team for more than 5 years.” In a tight debate Team New Zealand lost 2-1.
Round 7 we were opposition against Team Thailand on the final prepared motion “This House Believes That the International Seabed Authority should immediately legalize deep sea mining for rare earth minerals.” In another tight debate, Team New Zealand won 2-1.
Round 8 we were proposition against Team Romania on the motion “In countries experiencing democratic backsliding, This House Believes That civil society groups should shift their advocacy from substantive policy goals (e.g. legalizing abortion or gay marriage) to critiquing violations of democratic norms (e.g. infringing on the independence of courts, removing constitutional safeguards)”. In a close debate Team New Zealand lost 3-0.
Finishing the preliminary rounds on 5/8 wins and 15/24 ballots, we progressed to the outrounds ranked 14th!
In the Double-Octofinals we were opposition against Team Taiwan on the motion “This House Would allow employees to contractually agree with their employer to delay or forgo having children during their employment”. In a close debate Team New Zealand won 5-0 (and were the only opposition to progress!).
We then faced our friends from Team India in the Octofinals, opposing the motion “In public interest models of Educational Technology development, non-profit foundations, universities, multilateral organizations, or governments develop educational technology (e.g., DIKSHA in India, Indonesia's Teacher Independence Platform, UNICEF's Learning Passport, etc.). In venture-backed models, educational technology is developed by EdTech start-ups who raise money from private investors in exchange for equity (i.e. shares) with the goal of ensuring rapid growth and financial return. This House prefers public interest models to venture-backed models in the development of educational technology for primary and secondary education.” In a tight debate Team New Zealand lost 5-0.
Having won our first outround, Team New Zealand finished WSDC ranked 13th in the world!
We also had spectacular individual success:
- Sebastian Heine-Sheldrake was the 17th best speaker overall!
- Alan Chen was the 1st= best reply speaker, 27th best speaker overall, and 9th best ESL speaker!
- Isabella McKeefry was the 38th best speaker overall!
We would like to congratulate our friends from Team India who went on to win the tournament, our trans-Tasman friends from Team Australia who progressed to the Grand final, and all the other excellent speakers we met along the way.
