The Bermuda Junior Service League, together with the Bermuda Debate Society, held the 24th Annual National Debate Competition at Saltus Grammar School on Saturday, November 23rd. The competition was rigorous, and all the debaters performed admirably, further developing their public speaking skills. The prepared motions were “This house would ban animal testing” (Middle School) and “This house believes that national security should take precedence over individual rights” (Senior School).

BHS Middle School Team A were undefeated in the preliminary rounds and won a unanimous victory in the final debate, in which BHS successfully proposed the prepared motion against the Dynamic Debaters team, thus being awarded the top team prize for the third year in a row!

There were five individual speaker awards presented in the Middle School awards ceremony. BHS won an impressive four of these five awards. Year Nine student Brianna Correia won 1st place and was presented with the Victoria Cox Memorial Plate; Year Eight student, Sierra Brangman (a novice debater) won second place; and Year Eight students Madison Quig and Charlotte Frumkin won fourth and fifth places, respectively. Warwick Academy student Riley Mason (debating for Dynamic Debaters) was awarded the third place individual speaking award. In the Senior division, BHS Year Ten student, Megan Sutcliffe, won the fifth place individual speaking award.

The other BHS teams were comprised of the following students: Middle Team B: Year Seven student Iannah Caines, Year Eight student Sierra Brangman, Year Nine student Freyja Kermode; Senior Team A: IB students Wendy Tuxworth, Zoe Smith, Brittney Ferreira; Senior Team B: Year Ten students Megan Sutcliffe, Lillian Griffiths, and Ashleigh Tomkins. The teams were supported by: Year Seven Emily Quarterley, and IB students Kathleen McBeath and Aleisha Hollis. The Senior debate coach was Harvey Cornish.

BHS Middle School debate coach, Mrs Michelle Carpol, commended the debaters, saying, “Our Middle and Senior debaters worked very hard to research the prepared motions and develop strong arguments on both sides of the debate. We are so proud of our Middle and Senior teams for their team work and commitment, and especially proud of our youngest, inexperienced debaters who were very brave, competing for the very first time.”

The top debaters from different schools are now preparing to compete at the international level in the upcoming World Schools Debating Championships (Thailand) and the Panamerican Schools Debating Championship (Mexico) in 2014.