Senior Debaters Excel in HKSDC Interschool Competition

A massive congratulations to Isabelle Woo (10W) who gave a phenomenal performance at the virtual Hong Kong Senior Schools Debating Championship (Senior SDC) held on 16 October 2021. Isabelle gained a ‘Top 10 Speakers Award’ out of over 100 participants.

Held using the World Schools Debate Format, the competition challenges top debaters across schools to engage in fierce and heated discourse over a variety of recent, prevalent and challenging issues. This year saw 24 teams participate in the competition, debating on the following topics:

• abolishing elections and replacing them by sortition;
• allowing former members of religious organisations to sue them for the harmful effects of adherence to their religious doctrine;
• supporting the creation of community courts in post-war societies;
• opposing the attempts by the feminist movement to redefine traditionally feminine roles and behaviours as empowering.

After winning rounds against Diocesan’s Boy School and Renaissance College, The Island School Senior Debate Team also qualified as a reserve breaking team, qualifying just outside the highest-performing teams.

Isabelle Woo (10W), “SDC was an interesting experience. It taught me debating was not for the faint-hearted, everyone was so competitive and overall skilled. The challenge was not easy but tackling it was fun.”

Sam Hui (12W), Debate & Public Speaking Club leader, exclaimed, “A massive congratulations to the team! We would like to thank Mr Hood for his consistent support of the Island School Debate & Public Speaking community as well as Mr Forse for his guidance and help throughout the journey. We look forward to preparing students for other upcoming competitions!”

From left: Sam Hui (12W), Alexandra Lai (10W). Charlie Lam (12E) and Isabelle Woo (10W)

Debate & Public Speaking Club is held every Monday online by Mr Darryl Hood, Charlie Lam (12E) and Sam Hui (12W).