JL Crowe enters a new season of debate with the first tournament which was held on Oct. 27th as the school hosted the 31st Annual Pumpkin Classic.
The junior and senior topic was, “This house believes that social media is undermining democracy” and the novice topic was “Be it resolved municipalities should cull urban wildlife.”
Students debated both sides of the topic with the novice debaters learning the cross-examination style and the junior and senior debaters debating both cross examination and the Canadian National Debate Format (CNDF).
Results from the 31st Pumpkin Classic which included schools from Kelowna, Nelson and Trail brought forward the following highlights from JL Crowe.
Individually in the novice division, Katie Mountain and Grace Holden tied for first, Micayla Fuhrmann and Ripley Shubert tied for second and Bremen Sims came in third. Logan Fraser was fourth, Mattea Palesch, fifth and Nate Caputo was 6th with Evan Weeks in seventh place.
Team rankings were as follows: in first place, Grace Holden paired with Katie Mountain, in second place, The Wildflower/JL Crowe team of Bea Kelly and Micayla Fuhrmann, in third place, Mattea Palesch and Logan Fraser, fourth went to Wildflower, fifth place went to Evan Weeks and Ripley Shubert, and sixth place to Nate Caputo and Bremen Sims. This was a stellar time for the Novice category as JL Crowe students stepped up to the proverbial microphone.
In the junior category, individually, Sasha Leithead placed eighth and in the team division, Sasha Leithead and Rannde Wyatt placed sixth and Raquel Collins and Sara Arychuk placed eighth. Competition was stiff in this category as the Junior Division includes both grade nines and tens including students who have participated at the Junior National Seminar.
In the Senior Division, Chris Mountain placed fifth and in the team division, Chris Mountain and Mark Yo placed sixth and Brian Chan and Bethany Worsnop placed eighth.
Many thanks are extended to the community judges, the West Kootenay Teacher Education Program candidates and the 30 chairpersons, timers, tabulators and helpers at large.
Not only are our students involved debating, they also public speak and in addition, take part in BCYP, British Columbia’s Youth Parliament, Southern Interior (SIYP) Division. Our youth are learning what it takes to be involved, take responsibility and provide leadership to others.
