St Mary High School are winners of the second match in the Area Two Debates competition which pits winners of parish debates for St Ann, St Mary and Portland against each other for the championship.St Hilda’s High, St Mary High and Titchfield High are the champions for St Ann, St Mary and Portland respectively; the three parishes that make up Area 2.Scores: St Mary High 1,176 to St Hilda’s 1,151.The moot for the debate that took place at the St Mary police Headquarters, Port Maria was“White collar crime and corruption are far more debilitating to the nation than are the activities of criminal gunmen.”The next match on Friday, sees the two winners so far, Titchfield High up against St Mary High at Hotel Tim Bamboo, Port Antonio.When they lost to St Mary High last week Monday, January 19, St Hilda’s were losing their second match in a row, having lost to Titchfield. They had an improved performance against St Mary High but still came out losers.St Mary High’s first presenter, Abigail Barrett, who opposed the moot was the speaker with the most points.The judges’ report presented by James walsh, educator and community contributor pointed to weaknesses in the rebuttal of both teams and the failure of St mary high to use the time allotted. Time management overall was improved with fewer speakers being penalized for over running their time. Comments were also made about the failure of the teams to link and analyze points they had made and also some errors of fact were also pointed out. Franklin McKnight was chief adjudicator.Recently appointed head of police in St Mary, superintendent Stephanie Lindsay was among the audience and welcome the teams. Also in attendance were superintendentDudley Scott and deputy superintendent Dwight Powell.Representing St Hilda’s were: Davidene Brown, Abigail Minott and Morgan Davis-Ball. For St Mary High, the team was Abigail Barrett, JalelleHaye and t McPherson.
Chairing was Halshane Burke.
