Well done to all those who debated this year: it takes courage to stand up and speak in front of a room of your peers, parents, teachers, and adjudicators.
The Year 9 Intermediate A, STH 1 team of Lila, Larkin, Evie, Shwetha, and Charlotte – deftly coached by Class of 2023 alumna Varvara – made it to the semi-finals (where the decision to eliminate them was certainly debateable). Our Year 8 Junior B team of Finlay, Ashleigh, Shyon, Claudia, and Ada – adroitly coached by Year 11’s Katy – won five out of their six debates, earning the runner-up position.
On Sunday 8 September 2024, our Year 12 team of Alexi, Giselle, Tara, and Audrey competed for the biggest prize in Gold Coast Debating: the Open Final. The finals were hosted by Bond University, and we are grateful to the large audience of students, teachers, former teachers, our school Principal, parents, and the team’s accomplished coach – St Hilda’s alumna, Hikaru.
In the Open final, St Hilda’s faced Queensland Academy, who had beaten our team in the group stages earlier in the season. Our team was given the Affirmative side of the argument, “We should do more to protect against the potential threats posed by Artificial Intelligence.”
Alexi, who had spoken with polish and poise in the semi-final (and earlier rounds), performed the role of the consummate chairperson in the final – a masterful master of ceremonies. The debate’s first speaker, Giselle, assuredly defined the terms of the debate and cogently set out our team’s arguments. Tara, composed and convincing, covered much ground – from deep-fakes to AI’s relationship with human artistic creativity. Our concluding speaker (and unofficial team captain), Audrey, dismantled the opposition’s arguments, brick by brick.
While we awaited the results, Bond law professor Nick James shared some wisdom, including his admiration for all the debaters. Professor James, openly keen to recruit some premium young law students, also made himself available for questions.
Many of the St Hilda’s students who coach debating to younger year-groups were present in the audience, including our wonderful Debating Captain, Zara. We would like to thank all our student coaches for their hard work this year: Zara, Alexi, Giselle, Tara, Audrey, Judy, Ava-Lin, Molly (Year 11), and Katy (Year 11). Audrey, Judy, Katy, and Ava-Lin also took on the roles of adjudicators, as did Isabella (Year 11), for which we are very grateful. A proviso of competing in Gold Coast Debating is that, as a school, we provide a certain number of student and alumni (or siblings or parents) adjudicators. These are paid roles; please contact me for more information.
In Bond University’s Basil Sellers Lecture Theatre, the trophy for Gold Coast Debating Open Champions was awarded to our outstanding Year 12 team; we looked on with immense pride. Medals were awarded to Alexi, Giselle, Tara, Audrey, Debating Prefect Zara, and coach Hikaru, whose many years of dedication to St Hilda’s debating are greatly appreciated. The ‘Speaker of the Day’ trophy was awarded to Tara, who reacted with classic understatement. Humility is a hallmark of our debaters – from our budding Year 7s through to senior students, and, notably, our Intermediate teams, all remained courteous and gracious at all times.
After congratulating our Year 12 champions at Bond, I asked them how they would celebrate. As champion debaters, their answer lacked verbosity: “Sleep.”
