Echuca Moama Apex Clubs annual school debating competition was run this term with Echuca College students taking out a rare double win. The College was able to win both the junior and senior divisions over a very competitive Moama Grammar. This is only the third time a school has won both divisions in the same year and the second time that Echuca College has achieved this result (Kyabram SC won both in 2011 and Echuca College won both in 2016).
The College’s senior team had to defeat a strong St Joseph team in the rounds to advance to the final against Moama Grammar, while the junior team had success over Kyabram SC in its round to advance to the final. Moama Grammar’s two teams were able to defeat Kyabram SC in the senior debate and St Josephs in the junior division to make it a College versus Grammar double header.
The senior team, consisting of Rhys Watson Year 11, Jess Tall Year 12 and Kaitlyn Bulmer year 10, had to argue on the affirmative side that ‘We should import our food and fibre rather than use irrigation in the Murray Darling Basin’. This was the seventh time in eight years that Echuca College’s senior team had made the finals and the fourth time they have won the senior title.
The junior team has likewise been successful over the last eight years, winning the junior title the last three years in a row and, like the senior team, four times overall. The junior team were arguing on the negative side to the statement: ‘Quotas should be introduced to ensure there are equal numbers of Men and Women in Parliament’. Debate debutantes, Ryder McMullen Year 7 and Nathan Accurso Year 8, joined Johannah Grundy Year 9 in a well-argued debate.
The next debating competition will be the Northern Rivers against schools from Kyabram to Boort in Term 3.
