To the competitive debaters at St. George’s school, debate means far more than just arguing. It is part of their education and advocacy and provides dignity for them. In March 2019, their commitment to debate makes them achieve immense success at one of the nation’s most competitive high school debate tournaments.

The Hart House High Schools debating championship is an annual debate tournament held in the University of Toronto from February 15th–16th. The St. George’s school sent 4 teams in the hope of training the members in this competitive tournament..

The team consisted of Jason Guo (Grade 10), Allan Lee (Grade 12), Michael Wu (Grade 10), Peter Zhang (Grade 10), Eric Li (Grade 8), Jonathan Chu (Grade 8), Koby Chen (Grade 9), and Jasper Liu (Grade 9)attended the debate.  The team was chaperoned by Ms. Cara Woodruff and Mr. Greg Elliot.

During the 2 days of debate numerous interesting topics were discussed, such as whether people should choose heaven or reincarnation and whether the US should formally resume diplomatic negotiations with the current Syrian government.

“The topics discussed on the second day were intellectually challenging and engaging because we had to debate against many of the nation’s best debaters.” said one of the participants.

Furthermore, the results for this tournament were beyond expectations, with Jason and Allan making open finals and Eric and Jonathan making the Junior finals. Jason Guo, debater at St.Georges said “making finals at Hart House is a dream come true, I never expected to be able to advance this far.”

Beyond the results, this tournament also served as a learning experience and is an unforgettable part of the students’ high school journey. Allan Lee, one of the debaters , stated that this tournament was  “highly educational, entertaining, and an unforgettable part of [his] senior year.”