SMA progresses to second round of interschools debate competition

Adrian Piper and Ajaniah Casimir of the St. Marys Academy (SMA) won the first round in the interschool’s debating competition as the opposing side They went up against proposing side, Arthur Waldron Seventh-Day Adventist Academy.

The debate topic was “A drug rehabilitation center is necessary to reduce the negative impact of drug abuse on the Dominican society.”

Ajaniah Casimir was awarded Best Speaker.

The competition was held at the PSU last week Wednesday.

Debate Coach, Kurshner Telemacque-Rabess stated that winning the first round brought fulfillment to the team.

“Winning the first round of competition was a very fulfilling experience especially since the topic was one that was emotionally charged and leaning towards one side,” she said to DNO

“We are aware of would-be impacts that drugs have on our society and we found it very challenging to present to the opposing side of the topic.”

She acknowledged that SMA has taken part in numerous debating competitions in the past when the Kiwanis Club organized the events and got as far as the final round of competition.

“Debating is not something new however as we are aware this competition has not been in existence for maybe the past seven years so we took up the challenge when this initiative was revamped.”

She noted that there was great effort put into preparations as they received their topics towards the end of the first term.

“We had to work all throughout the Christmas break and as soon as we got back to school we had to work on fine-tuning our speeches and working on presentation. We had very little physical time to put together the debate.”

Rabess said that the debaters are very enthusiastic about debating and are already on the ball with their research for the upcoming debates.

Despite admitting that there are not many avenues for debating in Dominica she expressed confidence that if her competitors decide to pursue this field, they will do well.