The Bermuda Junior Service League (BJSL) 24th Annual National Debate Competition was held at Saltus Grammar School on November 23.

Saltus Senior Team A won the finals against Berkeley Institute.

Speaker Awards were won by Saltus SGY2 Head Girl Ciara Burrows in 1st place, S11 Mahir Wagh in 3rd place, and S11 William (Liam) Peniston in 4th place; Ciara also won the Michelle Outerbridge Impromptu Speaker award.

Secondary Head of English and Media Studies, Christianna Hiles said of the undefeated Senior Team A: “This is the second such win for this amazing trio as they also won the Overall Overseas Team Public Speaking Award at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition (IISPSC) last October in Toronto, at which Ciara also won Best Overseas Speaker Award and the Phil Hansen ‘Spirit’ award.”

Saltus Head of School Claire Charlemagne said, “These phenomenal achievements are made possible through the hard work and dedication of our coaches and teachers who give up a lot of time to assist the students.

“Special thanks go to Christianna Hiles who is our debate coordinator and coach, and also to Secondary English teacher, Freya Crofton, who coached the middle school team.”

S11s Mahir Wagh and Liam Peniston of the winning team and William Campbell from Team B all started their Duke of Edinburgh Silver level practice expedition on the day before the BJSL event, debated all day on the Saturday, camped out again that night, and completed their practice expedition on Sunday.

The Saltus teams included: Senior Team A: Ciara Burrows, Liam Peniston and Mahir Wagh; Senior Team B (two wins and one loss): SGY1 Nalani Dowling, SGY1 Nicholas Pell, S11 William Campbell Middle School Team (one win and two losses): S8 Fransina Beumee, S7 William Welch and S7 Natalie Lightbourne (1 win and 2 losses); plus Support — S8 Edward Moresco, SGY1 Sydney Steeves, SGY1 Daniel Oatley and S7 Samuel Dickinson.