The Burger King National Secondary Debate Competition is acknowledged as
the premier debating competition in Jamaica. The Competition seeks to get
young minds involved in conversations of socio-political importance, as
well as develop the public speaking and critical thinking skills of
students.
The competition is held island wide among 64 high schools across the
island. Kingston College has a rich history of producing remarkable
debaters and is currently noted to have last won the competition in the
year 2014.
The 2019 team consisted of Captain Sean Roberts, Antonio Neil, and Jahmai
Scarlett, first, second and third speakers respectively. The members of the
reserve team are Jeremiah Baker, Javell Levy and Jhevoni Vassel.
They were guided by the faculty advisors Mrs. Tamica Telphia-Fraser, and
Mr. Christopher Brown. In addition, we have a tradition of mentorship from
immediate past members of the debating society most of whom participated in
the competition.
In the first round of the competition, the team was slated to compete
against the Immaculate
Conception High School for Girls. However, they forfeited the match with
their absence. As a result, the team advanced to the 2nd round. However,
the speakers had to present to the judges
and were subject to intense points of information (questions) geared at
testing the soundness of the arguments we brought to the debate. However,
the team never faltered and impressed the judges with their quick and
strong responses and thus was notably commended for illustrating the “true
Fortis spirit”.
The second round of the competition saw the team competing against Merle
Grove High School for Girls the match was hard fought, ending with Kingston
College being victorious. Team Captain Sean Roberts was also given the best
speaker for the debate.
Thus the team moved on to the national level (round of sixteen) of the
competition.
The third round of the competition saw the team meeting Campion College.
The match was hosted at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort Hotel in Montego Bay,
another of the many sponsors of the Burger King National Secondary Debate
Competition. The team argued diligently against their opponents, sadly we
lost this match by a mere 10 points ending our time in the competition for
2019.
We regret our early departure from the competition, however, we remain
committed to achieving our motto, 'Our words our sword, our knowledge our
shield.”