[School Debate Series] Our Lady of the Rosary College: Hard work pays off

Christy Chan, Niki Cheung and Melody Choi readily admitted they felt nervous before May’s Senior Standard Format Grand Final. Not only were they appearing before a large audience, but this was also their last secondary school debate for Our Lady of the Rosary College (OLR).

However, the three Form Five students were announced winners over the team from HKMA David Li Kwok Po College and, afterwards, they said they were delighted their hard work had paid off. They were humble in victory, taking the chance to express their gratitude to everyone who helped them along the way.

Chan explained she and her teammates had honed their skills ever since they first took up debating at OLR. “We’ve learnt how to write better speeches and how to deliver our ideas clearly through the use of articulation, pace and body language. Most importantly, through practice, we’ve learnt to think faster and more critically.”

Winnie Tam is the coach of the OLR debate team. “As the school team has grown from one group of three debaters to now six teams, spanning S1 to S5, I invited Dr Vinton Poon from Hong Kong Baptist University to help as our chief coach and give intensive training to our senior teams.”

Tam said perseverance, or grit, is the main strength of her team. “Our winning team this year lost every match when they were in S3, but they didn’t quit,” she said.

Instead, Tam explained, they learned from their mistakes and came back stronger in S4. “Finally this year, in S5, they won nearly every match. The time and effort they have spent improving their debate skills, in addition to staying on top of their schoolwork, is immense.”

Cho recalls being scouted to join the team when she was in S3. “We thought it would be a really good opportunity to learn and improve our English, and that’s when we first became more seriously involved in debating.”