The St John’s College senior debating team impressed at various regional competitions held throughout September.
Spokesperson for the school, Jacqui Deeks said, “This year’s debating competitions reached their climax over the last few weekends with the Gauteng Schools Debating Championships being held at the University of the Witwatersrand.”
On 19 September, the top teams from various regional competitions participated in six preliminary rounds of the provincial championships, with the top eight teams qualifying for the quarter finals.
Having won the Johannesburg regional competition last term, the St John’s College senior debating team was regarded as one of the favourites in the provincial championship.
“Our team, consisting of Katya Broomberg, Lula Pam Grant, Eric Kazadi and Stefan Massyn, duly won five of their six debates in the preliminary rounds, thus being ranked second in the quarter finals.”
After stellar performances in the quarter and semifinals, St Johns College’s team ended up in the final against King David Victory Park. They debated the motion, ‘This house believes that the west should leave all negotiations with North Korea to Russia and China’.
“St John’s College opposed the motion, and systematically, and with impeccable logic and eloquence, demolished the arguments advanced by our opponents. Consequently, the four adjudicators unanimously awarded the debate to St John’s resulting in the college being crowned provincial debating champions for the first time since 2011.”
Along with their win, the four debaters were also placed in the top eight of the best individual debaters in the province with Broomberg being placed as the top ranked debater in Gauteng.
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
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