Bishop Lyons

Our team consisted of a group of exceptionally talented individuals, including a debate team comprised of Jonathan Chapman, Zak Klempel, and Dome Wiedermann. We also had a religious question team, which consisted of Rachel Francis, Samantha De Villena, Sarah Manoj, our backup member William O'Reilly, and our Te Reo scripture Reader Olivia Johansen. We had two exceptional speakers - Katie Boddy, who delivered a prepared senior speech on “Catholic Education”, and Anja Schoeman, who gave an impromptu speech on the topic “fear is useful”.

This competition has been a tradition for about 77 years, and we felt privileged to participate in it on the first day. Our Impromptu speech was on the topic of "fear is useful," which our representative Anja delivered wonderfully. Our debate team was impressive, and their responses were combative and well-reasoned. They were the neg team, arguing that the use of TikTok did more harm than good, despite having a double negative topic. Their points and rebuttals were excellent.

We participated in our second debate on the second day, where the topic was the prohibition of further development of artificial intelligence programs. After a long day of competitions, we had a beautiful combined school mass and a delicious dinner at Marian College. On the third day, we returned to compete in the religious questions competition. There were about 5 questions about the synod, which the team answered brilliantly. We also had a heartwarming scripture reading in Te Reo. Overall, it was a memorable experience. We made a ton of friends and some great memories, and we were grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this competition.

-Sarah Manoj

Mission Leader