Regional Debating Competition

The Macleans College debating team, consisting of Yang Fan Yun (Snell House), Alan Zhang (Kupe House) and Grace Baylis (Upham House) performed exceptionally well at the Auckland Regional Tournament held on March 24th and 25th.

After four preliminary rounds on the first day, the team reached first place ahead of more than 150 debaters, with over 10 points ahead of the nearest team.

The team progressed to the grand finals, where they narrowly lost against St Kentigern College in a 3-2 split decision, achieving second place.

All three speakers were selected for the six member Auckland Regional Teams. This is an outstanding achievement.

Macleans College also came away with both of the top individual prizes, with Grace winning Best Style and Yang Fan winning the trophy for Overall Best Speaker of the Auckland Region.

Furthermore, Yang Fan was chosen for the New Zealand Development Team in 2018, putting him in strong contention for the New Zealand team that will compete in the World Schools’ Debating Championships later this year in Croatia.