Shoutout to Grammar students Matthew Farrell'20, Nicholas Abernethy'20, Arthur Huang'20 and Eamon Roach'21 on their participation in the 2020 Senior National Debate Championships. Taking place from June 4-7, 2020 via Zoom (originally scheduled to take place in Manitoba), this championship brings together students from all over Canada and is the recognized Canadian championship tournament for senior high school debaters. Congratulations to Matthew who placed second individually, Nicholas who placed third individually and Eamon and Arthur who both placed in the top 10 speakers.
In the team event, Arthur and Eamon finished as the 9th place team, just one spot away from making it to the quarter final rounds, while Nicholas and Matthew were the top team with a record of 6-0 after six preliminary rounds, but bowed out after the quarter finals.
Matthew and Nicholas were also involved with hosting the 2020 Junior High National Debate Championships right here at Halifax Grammar School this year. With hosting a physical tournament being made impossible, it was decided that Grammar would attempt to host an online version of the event on May 29-31. In Matthew's words, "with 50 teams from all across the country participating, we were incredibly honoured to be able to give those who attended a well organized and enjoyable event to, hopefully, lighten up their quarantine a bit. While this was certainly a challenge to organize and set up, I and Grammar Debate Coach Josh Judah were very happy with the end result."
For those interested in learning more about debating, click here to check out the Sacred Heart Debate Camp taking place in August. Our Grammar Debate Coach and many of our debaters have attended this camp over the past 15 years.