Debate's Busy Autumn

It has been a busy season for all manner of our public speakers, with students competing at various regional events, as well as two international-level competitions. In late October, just before mid-term break, three of our senior students traveled to Winnipeg to compete in the annual International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships. Always in English, but from a number of different traditions and perspectives, the students competed in a number of events, including dramatic monologue, persuasive speaking, extemporaneous speaking and debating. Students representing five countries and forty-two schools took part in the event. Two of our students placed in the top three in two of the most competitive categories, dramatic monologue and impromptu speaking, a first for our school. Following the mid-term break, students who had competed back in July, in the World Scholar’s Cup in Athens, Greece, then traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, to represent the school in the 2017 final at Yale University. Having prepared for many months, usually over dinner breaks and during evening meetings, they were confident in their knowledge of the extensive curriculum, featuring subjects including interesting aspects of science, social studies, literature, music and history. Participants competed in several events, including debate, collaborative writing and various knowledge tests and trivia rounds. Over one thousand students, representing fifty-two countries, competed in the Senior division and all fifteen students representing Brentwood placed in the top thirty in the debate category, with two students finishing first and third overall. When twenty-two of those schools are from BC alone, one does not expect such excellent results more than once, but Brentwood enjoyed top honours of this sort for the second year in a row.