GCHS Debate Team Competes At MS State, by Larry E. Burnette

  On March 4, the Greene County High School Model United Nations Debate Team travelled to Mississippi State University for a two-day competition against various Mississippi high schools. The competition involved a total of ten hours of active debate on policy resolution papers that students wrote and submitted weeks in advance. Students competed in two-person teams defending the papers against other students in their division. Our four teams each competed in different divisions.

     Competing against nine other teams, Alanna Robinson received first place for her policy paper and for successfully defending it with the assistance of her teammate, Jaila Brooks.

     Seniors Ivan Peebles and J’kia Carpenter were assigned the role of China. However, their division lacked a delegation from Russia, which is vital to Security Council deliberations. The judges asked if there was a veteran team that would be willing to split and compete individually. Ivan and J’kia volunteered, J’kia retaining China while Ivan represented Russia. J’kia Carpenter won second place for her solo performance in the team competition.

     Seniors Haley Noland and Woodrow Bullock represented Russia in another division. Even though they did not place, judges sought me out to tell me how well they performed. The coach for a team from Tupelo came to me to compliment Haley’s “incredible public speaking ability”.

    Senior Quantayia Williams (who was partnered with Haley when they placed at MS last year), volunteered to be the mentor to first-time debater Tinyrie Dancy. Although they did not place, I am very pleased with their performance.

     This will be the final competition for our five seniors, as the team opted not to attend the competition near Atlanta in two weeks after the news reports of students at an Atlanta area high school have been exposed to Coronavirus. 

     We want to thank all the donors who made this season of competition possible. Alanna, Jaila, Tinyrie and I look forward to recruiting new debaters from next year’s ninth and tenth grades. Our next planned event is a new one-day competition in Fairhope in October, to give our new recruits an opportunity to experience competition before the fierce university debates resume next February.

Photo 1: front (L-R) Alanna Robinson, Jaila Brooks, J’kia Carpenter, Mr. Burnette,

(back) Ivan Peebles, Haley Noland, Tinyrie Dancy, Quantayia Willaims, Woodrow Bullock

Photo 2: Alanna Robinson and Jail Brooks receive award.