Inside King's-Edgehill School
Hello Debaters and Families,
It was indeed a great weekend for KES debaters – big and small. Ms. Pennington and I want to thank the team back home for supporting the attendance of our junior and senior contingent at the Dalhousie Invitational British Parliamentary Tournament this weekend in Halifax.
Representing KES were:
King’s A senior team Sadie Junger ‘24 and Lucas Martin ‘24 who qualified to attend the British Parliamentary Nationals later this month.
Also in attendance (some in their first debate) were Ezra Choo ‘26 and Jack Michalak ‘25, and our debut junior teams of Altyn Hood ‘29, Rauri Ryan ‘29, Yu (Alethea) Cheng ’29, and Sokha Ebert ‘30. We await final tabulations still, but these debaters are to be commended for attending their first Nova Scotia Debating Society competition of the year!
On the West Coast, KES debaters, William Larder ‘26, Vincent Armstrong ’25, and Mollybeth Dickinson ’26 also participated in the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Tournament hosted at Crofton House School in Vancouver. This team represented KES very well against teams from across Canada, the USA, Asia, Bermuda, and India. At an event with 60 schools and 150 competitors, Mollybeth and Vincent finished consistently in the top 2/3 of the tabulations for the very challenging events of persuasive speaking and cross-examination debating respectively. As a team, the KES competitors pushed our school result to the top 1/3 of schools across a very competitive field.
William Larder, perhaps surprising even himself (if that's possible) took home top honours by placing second in one of the hardest categories at the event: extemporaneous speaking (five minutes on world events, one card, limited prep time) and also entering the finals in the populous parliamentary debate category. In sum, William finished eighth out of 160 international competitors and earned a well-deserved spot on the 12 member Canadian Team to represent at the World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Competition in Canberra, Australia in April, 2024.
Ms. Pennington and I wish to thank Mrs. Shields and the team back at KES for helping out on a double-stacked weekend of debate events! A job well done to all!
Nick Szymanis and Jenna Pennington
KES Debate Coaches
