August 14, 2018
Should schools provide free meals for their students? This was the thorny topic that young debaters from St Mary’s Catholic College in Kingaroy tackled at the Junior Apex High School Debating Regional Final hosted by Kilkivan P-10 School on Saturday afternoon.
The St Mary’s team – Elizabeth Watson, Caitlyn Carney and Caitlin Lang – earned the right to take part in the final after winning local rounds of the Apex debating competition held in Kingaroy earlier this year.
They argued the negative case.
The team arguing the affirmative case was Jazmyn Hanily, Sarah Carty and Jasmine Miller from Xavier Catholic College at Hervey Bay.
The adjudicators for the event were Fraser Coast Apex members Emma-Kate Curry, Ainsley Sheppard and Shayne Kuhn.
“The topic was very keenly contested by both sides with excellent teamwork and rebuttal of the opposing team’s points which made the final outcome a difficult task for the experienced adjudicators,” Apex South Burnett Adjudication Co-ordinator John Box said.
John and past National Apex Debating Director Kendall Siddans accompanied the Year 9-10 students to the debate.
“The chair of the adjudication panel, Emma-Kate Curry congratulated both teams on an excellent debate and suggested all of the six young ladies in the final would perform extremely well on the floor of any Parliament in Australia with the debating skills they demonstrated in the contest,” John said.
“Emma-Kate also commented about the excellent educational value of the Apex High School Debating Competition and how the competition continues to fulfil the second ideal of Apex: ‘To develop by example a more intelligent and aggressive citizenship’.”
Emma-Kate announced that Xavier College won the debate by a narrow margin.
They will now go on to compete at the State final to be held at the Apex Kids Camp at Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast.
“The St Mary’s team from Kingaroy did an outstanding job representing the South Burnett for their first year in the competition and were supported by a large contingent of supporters from St Mary’s, including the School Principal, teachers, coaches and parents,” John said.
“In co-ordinating the 16 volunteer adjudicators this year, I have had excellent support from past and current teachers, past Apexians and debaters and community leaders including three current lady councillors – Roz Frohloff, Ros Heit and Danita Potter – who provided an excellent example to the students of their community commitment and support for the education of youth in the South Burnett.”
- Related article: Junior Debaters Head To Area Final
