Official Report on the 2013 Junior High Provincials

Fifty four debaters from nine different schools competed in the 2013 Nova Scotia Junior High School English Debating Championships held at Middleton Regional High School in Middleton on February 23.  The eighteen teams debated once on each side of the resolution in two impromptu rounds of Parliamentary and two prepared rounds of Cross-examination debating.  The Cross examination question was “Should we continue to explore the universe?” while the Parliamentary Bill was “Be it resolved that the promotion of dieting be banned.”

 After the regular rounds of debating, the “A” team from Sacred Heart School of Halifax was in the lead so the second place “B” team from Halifax Grammar School chose topic and Sacred Heart the side.  The Halifax Grammar team selected the prepared resolution and the Sacred Heart School team the affirmative.  In the championship match, the team from Sacred Heart won the Atlantic Institute of Education Shield by a 4-1 verdict over the runner up team from Halifax Grammar School.  Members of the champion team were Rory Flynn, Anya Friesen and Catherine Burke;  the runner up team consisted of Ben Gillis, Jack Farrell, and Edison Li.

In individual standings, Rory Flynn of Sacred Heart School earned the Gold Gavel Award and the Karen Pugh Citation over runner up Ben Gillis of Halifax Grammar School.  Ms Flynn was the best grade 9 debater, Ben Gillis was the best grade 8 debater, Brendan McGuire of Truro Junior High the best grade 7 debater and Cecilia White, also of Truro Junior High, the best grade 6 debater.

The detailed results are attached;  the top ten team and individual rankings were as follows (lopped scores):

School Team	Totals	Rank	Individual	Total
Sacred Heart “A”	243.08	1	Rory Flynn	81.83
Halifax Grammar “B”	238.21	2	Ben Gillis	81.42
Halifax Grammar “A”	238.17	3	Anya Friesen	81.25
Middleton “B”	235.79	4	Matthew Machum	80.42
Sacred Heart  “C”	234.96	5	Ivy Journeay	80.13
Fountain “A”	234.84	6	Catherine Burke	80.00
Truro “B”	234.75	7	Harper Metler	79.17
Middleton “A”	234.54	8	Brendan MacGuire	79.13
Truro “A”	233.54	9	Kelvin Mansaray	79.08
St Andrew’s “A”	233.08	10	Eamon McCarron	79.04

We wish to thank the following individuals and institutions for helping to make our 2013 Junior High Championships a success, namely:

• Middleton Regional High School for permitting us to use its facilities;
• The Middleton organizing committee and in particular Bonny Hubley & David Stewart;
• The numerous debate judges, moderators and timers;
• Josh Judah and Brian Casey for running the tab room;
• Coaches and parents who brought debaters to the tournament, helped them to prepare for it, and generally assisted with the administration of the event/

To all who contributed, our sincere thanks.

2013 Junior High Nationals

The event is being hosted by West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver, May 9^th to 12^th.  Based on the junior high championship results, and our policy (which permits only two students per school to attend), the following students were selected to represent Nova Scotia at the event:

• Rory Flynn and Anya Friesen, both of Sacred Heart School of Halifax; 
• Ben Gillis and Matthew Machum, both of Halifax Grammar School;
• Ivy Journeay and Harper Metler, both of Middleton Regional High School; 
• Brendan MacGuire and Eamon McCarron both of Truro Junior High School.

If any delegates are unable to attend, their positions will be offered to the next highest debaters in the standings at the provincial championships, but with a limit of two students per school.

Good luck to the organizers and to all of our delegates!