National and local debating
National Schools Debating Championship and Radford Debating
By Nick Ewbank, Director of Oratory
From the 8–15 May, the National Schools Debating Championship was held in Canberra.
On home turf, the ACT ranked 5th out of 8 states and territories, meaning they were one rank off breaking into the semi-finals. Two Radford students, Roshan Kewalram (Y12) and Terry Yang (Y11), competed as speakers representing the ACT. According to report, both contributed admirably.
Roshan reports that “Nationals was a very enjoyable experience for both, and a huge achievement that Radford students made up half of the speaking team”.
Both Roshan and Terry are members of the Radford 1 Debating team (along with James Dixon, Imogen Eynon-Cooke and Camilla Lupton). This team ranked first at the end of the normal rounds of the ACT Debating Union Advanced Open Competition; Radford 2 in the same division has also made it to quarter finals. In the Senior Open (Years 9–10) Competition, two of three Radford teams have made it to quarter finals, and in the Junior Open Competition, finalists are not yet determined (but we expect several teams to break to finals).
Congratulations to all debaters this semester, and good luck for the finals. Particular kudos to Roshan and Terry for their impressive achievements.