Over the last two weeks, both Year 7 teams competed in the semi-finals of CSDA Debating, an outstanding achievement by any standards. Both teams had been undefeated over seven debates and hopes were high for an all-OLMC Grand Final. Sadly, this was not to be as the 7A team went down narrowly to Domremy in their semi but 7B kept the Mercy flag flying by defeating Lewisham in their semi-final debate.
Both teams should be so proud of their outstanding results . The girls in the 7A team were Vishnu Gude, Isabel Homairi, Celeste Ieronimo, Shiloh Julien and Sofia Tong. Ex-student Priyanka Sangar was their coach. The 7B’s were A’ishah Ali, Lizzy Butler, Pia Goradia, Bianca Mina and Celina Wassef, coached by 2019/20 DAPS Leader, Lily Tambrchi.
And how did 7B go in the Grand Final against Domremy? We’ll let Bianca Mina tell the story.
After having our photo taken in the Stanley Rooms, we began walking up two flights of stairs in the Brigid Shelly Building where the Grand Final debate would commence. Our coach Lily had the tough task of selecting the three girls to debate but finally settled on Lizzy, A’ishah and Celina. Pia and I were still proud we had played our part in helping to win every debate during the season.
At the coin toss, the host announced what side of the argument each team would have.
“The affirmative team is Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta, and the negative team is Domremy College. The topic is…that young people have it better than their parents.”
The chatter was like a swarm of bees buzzing throughout the preparation room (a Zoom breakout room, of course) while we all waited for the hour before the debate would begin.
As we sat in the waiting room, I thought about how far we’ve come and the journey we had taken to get us to this point. With great teamwork and collaboration, we were undefeated in all the rounds leading up to the finals. We thank our amazing coach, Lily Tambrchi, a former Debating Leader and OLMC student, for investing her time and effort with us. Most importantly, we wouldn’t be here if not for Mr Ostrowski, because he gave us this opportunity to be a part of the debating team this year and consistently motivated us to do our best.
An hour passed and the grand final had started. After thirty long minutes of strong arguments exchanged, point after point, the debate concluded. As we sat there waiting for the three adjudicators to give us the verdict, we tightly gripped onto our chairs, with our hands shaking and our hearts racing.
The announcement came after such a long wait. Finally, the Chief Adjudicator declared: “We have decided that the winner of the CSDA Year 7 Grand Final is…”
“…the affirmative team!”
Deafening screams shook the walls of the school as we excitedly hugged each other to revel in the moment. We were extremely proud of our teammates who did an amazing job as the speakers that evening. We were congratulated by our parents, our coach Lily, Mr. Ostrowski, our Principal Ms Farrugia and Deputy Principal Mrs Wood for our well-earned win that night. Our team went on to celebrate in Prince Alfred Park where, not only did we share our McDonalds meals, but we immersed ourselves in the sheer joy of our success and newfound friendships.
What a sensational first year of high school it has been for our team, and we are already looking forward to what next year will bring.
Bianca Mina, Year 7