From October 9th to October 30th, the Rotary Club of San Fernando embarked on a novel project involving the Interact students of its five sponsored schools which participated in a debate activity which took place over a period of four (4) weeks.
The schedule followed was:
1. October 09, 2020
Presentation College vs. St. Joseph’s Convent San Fernando
Judge: Jabal Hassanali of Climate Analytics
The topic debated was “CLIMATE CHANGE DOES EXIST AND HAS AFFECTED THE WORLD”
St. Joseph’s Convent emerged winners arguing against.
2. October 16, 2020
Naparima Girls’ High School vs St. Benedict’s College
Judge: Mrs. Murella Sambucharan-Mohammed, Lecturer, School of Education, UWI, St. Augustine
The topic debated was “ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN STUDYING AT SCHOOL”
Naparima Girls’ High School emerged winners arguing for.
3. October 23, 2020
ASJA Girls’ High School vs St. Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando
Judge: PAG Lindsey Cancino, District 7020
The topic debated was “Rotary International signature project is the eradication of Polio. With only 2 countries left to achieve this goal, do you think that RI should divert money towards the eradication of other diseases?”
St. Joseph’s Convent emerged winners arguing for.
4. October 30, 2020 –FINALS
St. Joseph’s Convent San Fernando vs Naparima Girls’ High School
Judge: Dr. Virginia Asin-Oostburg- District Lead for the Childhood Obesity Prevention Project
The topic debated was: “BE IT RESOLVED THAT A CHANGE IN FAMILY HABITS IS THE KEY TO CURBING CHILDHOOD OBESITY”
Naparima Girls’ High School emerged winners of this year’s Debate Competition
The Rotary Club of San Fernando applauds all students for their enthusiasm and participation in this their first Debate project. Throughout the entire process, there was an eagerness and excitement among the students and the club thanks them for making this project a very successful one. The students certainly learned about Rotary and The Rotary Foundation as the topics chosen covered some of the Seven Areas of Focus. From their deliberations, participants on Zoom were impressed by the tremendous research that informed the Interactors’ arguments. This project certainly met the achievement of promoting international understanding by the students.
Prizes awarded were as follows:
- The winning school Naparima Girls’ High School won a challenge trophy and TT$600
- St. Joseph’s Convent – TT$500
- ASJA Girls – TT $400
- St. Benedict’s College – TT$300
- Presentation College – TT$200
The Rotary Club of San Fernando would also like to thank the judges who gave of their time, talent and expertise in the judging of each segment of the debate and to the tremendous support of many participants who viewed weekly on Zoom.
