Debate & Oratorical Society Restrospective 2021
COVID-19 made 2021 a truly challenging year but ACJC Debates continued to strive and has thrived despite such difficult times.
Syed Jalal clinched the top place in the 2021 Orator’s Trophy, the West Zone Centre of Excellence national public speaking competition. Jalal’s achievement maintained the College’s championship position in this competition for the second year running.
In the Lasallian Debate League hosted by SJII, the ACJC teams fought hard and did well during the preliminary rounds. Faayiza, Dawn, Lexi, Kezia and Alda ranked 10th, 9th, 5th, 3rd and 2nd place respectively. The tournament was a great opportunity for our debaters.
In April 2021, ACJC Debates, in tandem with the Mr Loke Wing Fatt, co-hosted the 7th annual Oldham Cup, a prestigious debate tournament that is held in high regard. The Asia-Pacific and Atlantic division of the tournament took place between the 23rd and 25th of April, and saw 90 teams from a variety of local and international schools participating. ACJC sent two teams, ACJC A and ACJC B. ACJC A broke first in the preliminary rounds, and placed 2nd overall in the open bracket. The first place went to CWSDC Summer, after an intense and memorable debate on the right of indigenous groups to veto development of their land.
On the 3rd to the 5th of June 2021, ACJC Debates sent two teams to the annual MOE-ACJC Intercollegiate Debating Championship, a prestigious national debate tournament organized by the Ministry of Education in tandem with ACJC. We are proud to announce that after a grueling three days of competition, team ACJC A clinched first runner-up overall in the tournament, on top of breaking third in the preliminaries after winning 5 of the 6 rounds, and had three speakers rank amongst the Top 20 Speakers of the tournament. ACJC A debated against Raffles Institution A in the quarterfinals, and debated against Anglo-Chinese School Independent A in the semifinals, winning both times to progress to the finals. In the finals, ACJC A went up against Eunoia Junior College to debate whether wealthy nations should fund the development of space colonization technologies. After a tough fight, EJC came out ahead, and ACJC is glad to have had the opportunity to debate against such worthy opponents.
The team has been through many experiences - having gotten into the finals at the Lasallian Debate League, the Oldham Cup, and the MOE-ACJC Intercollegiate Debating Championship. We are glad to have left 2021 on a high note, and firmly believe in the promise and capability of the next generation to bring the college to even greater heights. We would like to thank all parties involved for making this possible - the judges who come from across the globe, Mr Loke Wing Fatt, VAT from Vietnam who was the digital director for many of our tournaments, as well as the respective Chief Adjudication Panel of each competition for organizing and hosting all these tournaments. Last but not least, our teachers and coach, Coach Sam, for giving us this opportunity and teaching us so much about the art of debate. To God be the Glory, the Best is yet to be!