It's that time of year again, Ladies and Gentlemen... The Worlds Debating Champs are on this month in Cape Town, South Africa and one of our own - Mr Auditor, Aodhán Peelo - is part of the team heading out to do battle with the créme de la créme of international debators. Team news and round-by-round updates are available on the World Schools Debating Facebook page, so check it regularly for possible videos and news about how the rounds are going!!!
On a side note, good luck to all those Juniors who take part in the next round of the Internal League this week. There is a Senior Mace on this weekend, ask Ms Ellen Murphy for details; similarly, any of the juniors going to the Colaiste na hInse Mace this weekend, best of luck to you too!
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Monday, 12 December 2011
Recent Events!
It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Debating Society - if you've missed out, here's what's been going on...
Congratulations to our first two senior Aoife Begly teams who made it through their first rounds of the competition - especially as they are all first-time speakers. Good luck also to the other two teams who are out tonight in Maynooth, debating the finer points of such blasphemous motions as TTHW Cancel Christmas and TTHW Give Rudolph a Nose Job. (Torn between wanting to kill the convenor and wanting to congratulate him on his twisted sense of humour!)
Last Saturday saw two Senior speakers - Colm O'Riada and David Bennett - and two Junior speakers who pretended to be Seniors - Heather Fitzpatrick and Chris McMahon - battle it out at the Cambridge Trials which for the third year running have been hosted by CCC. Unfortunately the victory went to Conleth's but they put up a good fight in what was a fiercely competitive day. Kudos also to our Senior and Junior speakers who gave up their time and energy to come down to the school and help out.
On a side note, good luck to all those debators who auditioned for the VEC Festival of Music on the same day!!
Mr Auditor is running an excellent Internal League this year, ably assisted by his Deptuy Auditor, and it has been exceptionally successful in drawing in not only first-time speakers but some of our Junior veterans too. Congratulations to all who have taken part so far, your dedication and debating skills are something to be very proud of. :)
Finally, the much-anticipated Debating Christmas Party will take place next Thursday lunchtime in Room 30 - an event applauded every year by the Society veterans - so make sure you're there unless you want to miss out on all the awesome goodies that Mr Hopkins and Ms McGrath always manage to organise for us - thanking them in advance!!
Congratulations to our first two senior Aoife Begly teams who made it through their first rounds of the competition - especially as they are all first-time speakers. Good luck also to the other two teams who are out tonight in Maynooth, debating the finer points of such blasphemous motions as TTHW Cancel Christmas and TTHW Give Rudolph a Nose Job. (Torn between wanting to kill the convenor and wanting to congratulate him on his twisted sense of humour!)
Last Saturday saw two Senior speakers - Colm O'Riada and David Bennett - and two Junior speakers who pretended to be Seniors - Heather Fitzpatrick and Chris McMahon - battle it out at the Cambridge Trials which for the third year running have been hosted by CCC. Unfortunately the victory went to Conleth's but they put up a good fight in what was a fiercely competitive day. Kudos also to our Senior and Junior speakers who gave up their time and energy to come down to the school and help out.
On a side note, good luck to all those debators who auditioned for the VEC Festival of Music on the same day!!
Mr Auditor is running an excellent Internal League this year, ably assisted by his Deptuy Auditor, and it has been exceptionally successful in drawing in not only first-time speakers but some of our Junior veterans too. Congratulations to all who have taken part so far, your dedication and debating skills are something to be very proud of. :)
Finally, the much-anticipated Debating Christmas Party will take place next Thursday lunchtime in Room 30 - an event applauded every year by the Society veterans - so make sure you're there unless you want to miss out on all the awesome goodies that Mr Hopkins and Ms McGrath always manage to organise for us - thanking them in advance!!
Friday, 21 October 2011
Internal League Round One
The first round of the 2011/12 Junior Internal League took place last Thursday lunchtime, where we saw two rooms of great speakers debate the motion TTHW Ban Smoking. Both experienced and new speakers pitched an interesting battle against each other, and everything from freedom of choice to the black market to tax and revenue came up. The second round will take place next week or very soon so keep an eye on Mr Hopkins' noticeboard at all times, because all notices, motions and order papers will be put up there first. Best of luck to all involved!!
Denny's Round I and Aoife Begly Teams
Congratulations to the teams of Daire Boyle & Declan King and Ciara Gorman & Aodhán Peelo who both made it through their first rounds of the Denny Leinster Competition last Monday and Thursday respectively, debating on the motions TTHW Make Parents Legally Responsible for the Actions of their Children and TTHW Criminalise Holocaust Denial. Commiserations to Joseph Gregory who was knocked out but congrats to his partner in crime David Bennett, who lives to argue another round in the competition.
Congratulations also to Alison Fitzpatrick, Cathal Hurley, Heather Fitzpatrick and Ffion Kelly-Rees who will represent the school in the Aoife Begly competition run by NUI Maynooth. First rounds of that will be held the week after the October midterm. These four will fill two teams but we are allowed to send 4, so any seniors interested should tell Mr Auditor, Ellen or Mr Hopkins and preferably turn up with a team-mate. :)
Congratulations also to Alison Fitzpatrick, Cathal Hurley, Heather Fitzpatrick and Ffion Kelly-Rees who will represent the school in the Aoife Begly competition run by NUI Maynooth. First rounds of that will be held the week after the October midterm. These four will fill two teams but we are allowed to send 4, so any seniors interested should tell Mr Auditor, Ellen or Mr Hopkins and preferably turn up with a team-mate. :)
Junior Schools Trials and Teams
Congratulations to all of the Junior speakers who tried out last week for the chance to be on one of our three teams for the Junior Schools Debating Competition this year. It was a tough call, and was especially difficult considering the really high standard of the trials and the fact that we only have six precious places available. So, congrats to Aisling Tully and Chris McMahon, Seán McGuane and Molly Murphy-O'Kane and Ailbhe Kelly and Clíodhna Durand, who have been selected to go through as our three teams, and commiserations to those Juniors who didn't make it through this year.
The three teams are out next Wednesday night, 26th October at 7pm in UCD. Any Seniors who are available, catch the 39A out to UCD and head along to support them if you can make it!! (See the link on the right to the Dublin Bus website.) Fingers crossed!!
The three teams are out next Wednesday night, 26th October at 7pm in UCD. Any Seniors who are available, catch the 39A out to UCD and head along to support them if you can make it!! (See the link on the right to the Dublin Bus website.) Fingers crossed!!
Worlds Trials Results
October 8th saw Ciara Gorman and Aodhán Peelo head to Trinity for the second lot of trials to make it onto the Irish Worlds Debating Team 2011/12. Chucked in with a bunch of people from Cork, we debated on things like TTHB Terrorism is Justified and TTHW Force-Feed Hunger Strikers, and had to do a general-knowledge quiz that wasn't general knowledge AT ALL!! Questions like "What was the case that legalized abortion in the US?" (Roe vs. Wade) and "What is the mens rea?" (intent to commit a crime, sort of like a guilty mind) came up and left everyone wondering how on earth the coaches came up with that one...
Congratulations to Aodhán as he returns to the Worlds team for the second year running - he will venture to Cape Town in South Africa in February 2012 with the team and we wish him all the best with his training until then! :)
Congratulations to Aodhán as he returns to the Worlds team for the second year running - he will venture to Cape Town in South Africa in February 2012 with the team and we wish him all the best with his training until then! :)
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Senior Trials, 7th October 2011
Attention all Senior speakers who put their names down to try out for Denny's and Aoife Begly, don't forget that trials are on this Friday in room 30 after school!! The motion is TTHW Elect Martin McGuinness, and if you're in doubt about the speaking order etc check out the glass noticeboard beside Mr Hopkins' office!
Also a reminder that there is a mace on in UCD on the 14th and 15th of October, if you're interested please see the sign-up sheet on Mr Hopkins' door or contact Aodhán or Ellen.
If in doubt about upcoming dates, check out the swanky new calendar feature I added over on the right!!
Also a reminder that there is a mace on in UCD on the 14th and 15th of October, if you're interested please see the sign-up sheet on Mr Hopkins' door or contact Aodhán or Ellen.
If in doubt about upcoming dates, check out the swanky new calendar feature I added over on the right!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)