Brian Casey, our Sacred Heart Debating Coach, is pleased to report on the results of yesterday’s Junior High Provincials which were held at Middleton Regional High School.
Three teams from Sacred Heart and two from Fountain competed; all acquitted themselves very well.
The Sacred Heart "A" team of Rory Flynn, Anya Friesen and Catherine Burke successfully defended the provincial title, defeating a team from Halifax Grammar School.
In addition, our Sacred Heart "C" team of Maria Samman, Emma McLean and Robin Short were 5th and our Fountain Academy team of Aristides Milios, Andy Samman and Robert Sapp were 6th and the Fountain Academy "B" team of Keegan Martin, Torsten Sinclair and David Sapp were 11th. Our Sacred Heart "B" team, of Sarah Bjornson and Sophie Moryto, lost a member Saturday morning to sickness and so placed 13th despite strong individual performances by Sarah and Sophie.
In individual results, our students captured 9 of the top 18 spots:
This was easily Robin Short’s best tournament, and I anticipate that it contributes to family harmony that the Sammans tied for 14th spot. Aristides and Andy who always vie for top spot from Fountain were only 4/100ths apart.
It is gratifying to see some of our debaters move up the standings as they prepare for larger responsibilities in the coming year. There are so many things to get right in a debate – content, rebuttal, delivery – that it typically takes two years for a student to get everything to gel. Our top 9 debaters have all been doing it for two years or more (except for Emma McLean who seems to have figured it all out in record time).
Nova Scotia sends an 8 person delegation to the Junior High Nationals in Vancouver in May. The team is usually made up of the top 8 students from the junior high provincials.
As a result of the tournament, Rory and Anya will represent Nova Scotia at that event, along with students from the Grammar School, Truro Junior and Middleton.
Catherine Burke, as the 6th place student, would have qualified to attend but Nova Scotia’s rules provide that only two students can go from each school. We are hoping Nova Scotia will be offered an additional spot and Catherine will qualify for that opening (which is not subject to the restriction).
Our participation in the tournament was made possible by the volunteers who cheerfully got up at 6am to drive the debaters to Middleton. My thanks to Heidi Sapp, Maya Churbaji, Denise MacDonell and Kathryn Bjornson.
We are required to supply judges to be able to participate in the event and I thank on behalf of the participating debaters Meaghan Carlson, Clarissa Brisseau, Patricia Donnelly, Andrew Aven Gillis, Heidi Sapp, Maya Churbaji, Denise MacDonell and Kathryn Bjornson.
We hope to get some of our debaters back on their feet for the Donahoe Cup, which we host at the school April 13 and 14th. More details about that in the weeks to come.
