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BEAVER | Friday, February 24, 2 0 1 7 112 Every week we showcase youtns in our community SEND US YOUR NEWS: If you are a youth and you have a story or photo to share, we'll do our hest to publish it on this page. Em ail it to ahlaekhum@oakvilleheaver. com, along with your nam e and a brief paragraph about why you w ant to share it with our readers. www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE W O SS d e b a te rs a re c re a m by Nathan Howes Oakville Beaver Staff o f th e c ro p years to win. I have watched Ethan and K ashaf begin as hesitant, nervous Grade 9s, w atching them grow in confidence and depth of analysis, and gradually come into their own as such strong high school debaters. " W hite O aks Secondary School (W OSS) continues to dem onstrate why it is a tough school to beat in debate. At the recent Hart H ouse tournam ent at the University of Toronto, the Oakville high school achieved som e of the best results it has ever earned in 30 years as a debate team, according to H am ish Guthrie, W OSS teacher and debate coach. Ethan Strathdee and K ashaf Salaheen placed first and second, respectively, out of 300 speakers (individual standings) at the annual com petition held last weekend (Feb. 17-18). The pair also finished third out of 150 team s in the group portion. The W OSS team of Angad Singh and Gautier Boyrie reached the quarter-finals, landing in the top 16 teams. Debaters have paid their dues Guthrie said Strathdee and Salaheen are both very deserving of their placem ents, as they have paid their dues with "patient study and research," as well as preparation. "It's a genuinely national tournam ent, as there are team s from B.C. to Halifax, N.S., and interest is very strong. Representation is heavy, both private and public high schools from across the country," said Guthrie. The tournam ent, which w as a "grueling course," the W O SS debate coach said, had two im prom ptu rounds Friday, then four more Saturday, to reach the fifth round, followed by the sem ifinals and finals. Topics during the tournam ent varied -- from voting rights for m igrant w orkers to corporate sponsorship of social activism cam paigns, offering guerrilla groups power sharing deals in exchange for disarmam ent. "All the topics are im prom ptu. Each team has 15 m inutes to prepare for each round, and during this 15 m inutes, they are w alking across cam pus to find the room s they have been assigned," said Guthrie. "H igh perform ance on a series of such varied topics is a testament of very strong ability" Competition from coast to coast The contest featured student debaters coastto-coast -- British Columbia to Nova Scotia. "I w as thrilled with the result. To see Ethan and Kashaf, in w hat m ay well be their last university tournam ent as high school students, place first and second in the speakers' standings, am ong 300, was glorious," Guthrie told the O akville Beaver in an email. "A splendid result like this can take The White Oaks Secondary School debate team continues to achieve outstanding results in com petition. In the top row, there is: Ethan Strathdee, Jasmine Waheidi, Marium Vahed, Kashaf Salaheen, Meghan Conn, Wendy Wang, and Ben Prystawski. In front, from left, Denys Linkov, Jason Huang, Joudy Sarraj, Jenny Hu, and Giancarlo Discenza. | submitted photo Re-financing? w w w .jw arch itect.co m Jameson Glas i Call us for a quote at D. Kevin Haxell -i 905-845-0767 ext. 222/223 Personal ProfessionalServiceatC o m p etitiveRates 1276 Cornwall Road, Unit C, Oakville Ontario, L6J 7W5 · law yers@ haxelllaw .com HOUSES T: 905-845-0767· F: 905-845-5552 · w w w .h a x e llla w .c o m