Although the Gold Coast Debating Competition is ongoing, I am privileged to inform our school community of the success of our QAHS Debaters in the 2025 Competition, to date. 95 students comprising 21 Debating teams, chose to represent QAHS throughout the Debating season. Special mention must be made of the 16 QAHS Debating teams who consistently fulfilled their Debating commitment, even during challenging periods throughout the Academic year.
Six teams qualified for the Finals series which commenced in Term 3 with four teams reaching the Semi-Finals, which will take place on Wednesday 3 September, at AB Paterson College. All students in the four QAHS teams that have qualified for the Semi-Final debate in their Division, are competing together as a team for the first time. Furthermore, the Year 10 and 11 students in the Intermediate B and Open B QAHS teams that qualified for the Semi-Finals, respectively, were also new to debating in 2025!
Congratulations go to the following QAHS Debating teams for qualifying for the Semi-Finals in their respective Division:
Intermediate B QAHS 1
Saskia Knevitt, Sofia Bedra, Remi Hoile, Millie Morphett, Xixi Wang
Intermediate A QAHS 3
Nicholas Wrightson, Jonathan Sugar, Timothy Wissa, Kobi Finch
Open B QAHS 2
Luke Koveos, Shuma Goto, Jason Liu, Sergio Teng
Open A QAHS 2
Izabella Wilson, Kiran Sen, Prince Sidiangco, Johanna Lee, Kiara Pellegrino
Our congratulations go to each of these students for their success in the Gold Coast Debating Competition thus far in 2025, and we wish them all the very best as they rise to the challenge of competing in the Gold Coast Debating Semi-Finals. We can be confident that our Semi-Finalist Debaters will acquit themselves extremely well as they strive to secure a place in the Grand Final.
Thanks must go to the QAHS Debating Captains – Taeha Dahlenburg, Jorja Sheehy, Crystal Chen and Pravit Tandon – these Year 12 students worked concertedly with our Year 10 novice Debaters earlier in the year, to develop their debating knowledge and skills.
If you are interested in supporting our QAHS Debating Finalists, keep an eye on the Gold Coast Debating website as well as their Instagram account @goldcoastdebating, as updated information regarding the Semi-Final and Grand Final debates will be released via those online sources.
Karen Mackie
Debating Coordinator