The semifinals debate will be this coming Saturday, October 24th from 10:45-11:45 am. We will debating against Villa María Academy, and this will be an impromptu debate with our team focusing on opposing the motion.
Before Saint George’s team has debated against Craighouse (informally), Villa María Academy, Nido de Águilas, and The Mayflower.
“We will learn the motion (or theme) at 9:45, an hour before the debate, and the team will have one hour to discuss the motion and prepare arguments before we start at 10:45”, say Maria Ahern, ChACE teacher and coach. “They cannot use any outside technology or research to prepare, so the structure of the arguments is from their own knowledge coming into the day”.
How does the team prepare for the semifinal?
To prepare we will spend time in our weekly practice sessions debating unknown themes or motions to help the students grow more contextual and critical thinking at high speeds, but overall there’s not a lot of preparation we can do because we don’t know the subject we’ll be debating on.
How many students make up the team?
In this complicated time of quarantine, we have a smaller team than normal. We have five active members: 1 senior, two juniors, and two freshmen. The team that is going to semifinals is composed of a senior, junior, and a freshman who recently joined the team. The students’ names are: Isidora Mehech Irarrazaval (2020), Martín Huerta (2021), and Benjamín Quiroga García (2023).
We wish our team success and enjoy the debate. Go Saint George!