The 2021-2022 House Debates at Trinity College School kicked off on Monday, October 25th with a thought-provoking debate on the resolution that “students learn more from their peers than from their teachers.”
Debates were held in parliamentary format, with 80 students taking part, in pairs, to represent their houses as either the government (defending the resolution) or opposition. This first round of preliminary debate was researched, meaning debaters were informed of the resolution in advance and had a chance to work with their partners to devise their arguments.
The top Junior (Grade 9/10) debater was Anni Campbell Nikolovsky of Wright House, followed in order by Rania Butt of Scott House, Ketchum’s Madison Miller, and a tie for fourth place between Brent’s Cheuk Lam and Melanie Anton of Burns House. Anni and her Wright House partner, Natalya Viznyak, were the top team of the day. In second place was the Scott duo of Rania Butt and Anna Dobrinski, followed by the Ketchum pairing of Madison Miller and Katerina Simantirakis in third. Overall, Scott was the top Junior house of the day, with two wins.
In the Senior (Grade 11/12) ranks, there was a three-way tie for top spot amongst Madison Narciso of Wright House and the Burns duo of Carmella Ylagan and Izzy Torzsas. Wright’s Ellice Huhe was in the runner-up spot, followed by Brent’s Jan Heckel and then Jasmine de Pencier of Burns House. Madison and Ellice gave Wright House top team honours, followed by Carmella and Izzy from Burns. Ketchum House rounded out the top three thanks to a strong showing by Chloe Chan and Amelie Lynn. The top Senior house of the day was Rigby, with two wins.
Congratulations to Scott House, whose combined overall record of three wins was the best for the first round.
This year’s program will include three preliminary rounds of debate, followed by the semi-finals and finals. All Junior debates will be research-based, while Seniors will have the chance to debate in the impromptu format in round two. We look forward to the second round of House Debates, scheduled for November 29th!
