The annual Debating and Public Speaking Assembly held on Monday was a great success. During the Assembly we profiled the many opportunities and successes of the Program so far this year. 

Last week we finished the third round of the Interschool Senior DAV debates. In Round 3, Years 10, 11 and 12 debaters had to prepare for Advised and Secret Topics announced only one hour before the debate. We have 10 teams of Years 9 to 12 debaters and so far, we have had 16 wins out of 26 debates, with a total of 15 Best Speakers! We have two teams who remain undefeated – A Grade (my team!) and B Grade Team 1.  

The following students were awarded Best Speaker in their debates. 

Year 12 – A Grade 

• Leanne Hiew 
• Ava Colosimo 
• Flora Du 

Year 11- B Grade 

• Olivia Hargrave (Rounds 1 & 2) 
• Megan Chang  
• Georgia Hennessy 
• Nguyen Thu (Anna) Nguyen Diep 
• Scarlet Westaway  
• Rhea Werner 
• Maeli Davenport 

Year 10 – C Grade 

• Isha Paithankar 
• Melanie Young  

Year 9 – D Grade 

• Diya Asthana (Rounds 1 & 2) 
• Yi Jun (Gladys) Lam 
• Angela Feng 

We have two rounds to go in Senior DAV Debating. The Junior Secondary Debating Program begins in Term 3 for interested Years 7 and 8 students. The Years 7 and 8 teams will be coached by Year 11 mentors and the Year 10 debaters have been coaching the Year 6 Barbreck House Debating Teams.  

Year 11 Mooting Team

Another highlight in Assembly was hearing from the Year 11 Mooting Team. Millie McIntosh, Sophia Holdenson and Scarlet Westaway shared their experience taking part in the Bond University National High School Mooting Competition. They took on the role of Solicitor, Junior Counsel and Senior Counsel and presented arguments on a case study before a judge. 

St Catherine’s has also participated in a number of Public Speaking Competitions this term.  

Participants in each competition are listed below and received a certificate in Assembly. 

Rotary Ainger Peck Public Speaking Competition 

• Ava Colosimo
  
• Flora Du 
• Nguyen Thu (Anna) Nguyen Diep 

Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition 

• Nguyen Thu (Anna) Nguyen Diep 
• Jisu Yang 
• Harper Roberts 
• Phoebe Butterfield 
• Elora Chan 
• Lissette Shu 
• Melinda Wang 

Intermediate DAV Public Speaking Competition 

• Rachel Carton 
• Sophie Farrer 
• Harper Roberts 
• Isabella Wang 

Junior DAV Public Speaking Competition 

• Lucille Parfit  
• Victoria Guan  

Victoria was named one of the top five speakers of the day which means she will receive a medal at the DAV ‘Swannie Awards’ later this year. Victoria presented her speech ‘It is the Journey, not the Destination’ to the Assembly and did an amazing job of presenting with absolutely no notes. 

To demonstrate an important part of the Public Speaking Program we also ran a Staff versus Student impromptu speech competition. Mrs Lloyd accepted the challenge to take on Year 11 debater and public speaker, Rhea Werner, to prepare a persuasive stance on an unseen topic in just four minutes. The audience really enjoyed hearing Mrs Lloyd argue that ‘Fake tan is our friend’ and Rhea argue that ‘Fake tan is our foe.’ Both speakers did an excellent job, incorporating humour as well as logical argument and it was voted a tie. 

It has been a great year for Debating and Public Speaking so far and I am looking forward to next semester.