Mackenzie High triumphs!
— emerges as JOF Haynes debating Champion
— Ayesha King adjudged Best Speaker
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, November 7, 2019
The JOF Haynes Debating competition ‘champion’s title’ has returned to Linden after a five-year hiatus.
Mackenzie High School claimed a well-earned victory, defeating its opponent Anna Regina Secondary School during a battle of research, delivery, fluency and eloquence in the final leg of the 2019 JOF Haynes Memorial Inter-Secondary Schools debating competition; hosted at the Theatre Guild, Kingston on Thursday.
They opposed the moot ‘is reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation important to the development of Guyana’s economy?’
Fifth form Mackenzie High School student, Ayesha King, who was adjudged the best speaker in the final round of the competition, expressed her sentiments on her team’s victory. “I am so happy right now, I feel so good knowing that we worked so hard [for this],” she relayed.
Mackenzie High School, located in the mining town of Linden, is no stranger to success. Beating out its fierce competition, Anna Regina Secondary School to cop the winning title in the most coveted Secondary School debating competition.
Delivering arguments, rebuttals and demonstrating research and knowledge, the two teams, according to the chief judge, did justice to the moot.
The JOF Haynes Memorial Inter-Secondary Schools debating competition is held to celebrate the oratorical experience of the late Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes who, in his day, was described as the most brilliant and eminent lawyer of his generation.
This competition was birthed 29 years ago. This year, it became a reality through a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Natural Resources and REDD+ Guyana.
Both teams were awarded prizes while Mackenzie High was presented with a new computer to aid in ICT learning at school.