Congratulations to the seniors for a very successful season 2024/25…

After four rounds and four wins, the Goethe-Gymnasium’s senior team
traveled to Würzburg for rounds 5-8 in hopes of breaking into the
Octofinals.

During this year’s season, Goethe’s seniors had debated motions, like
“This house is in favor of raising a European army” and “This house
believes that Germany should use juries in all criminal cases”, in
Lahr and Karlsruhe.

With four wins under their belt, the senior team set out to qualify
for the Octofinals. Each year all schools participating in the DSG’s
senior league meet up in Würzburg for rounds 5-8.

Arriving on the 21st of March, Goethe immediately faced
Scheffel-Gymnasium Lahr in a prepared debate “This house would allow
people to sue their family for religious indoctrination they
experienced during childhood.” Having had long to prepare, the debate
was fierce and interesting, and in the end, Goethe won unanimously.

The next two debates, “This house believes that regional parties do
more harm than good” and “In countries with compulsory military
service, TH as the feminist movement would support compulsory military
service for both men and women” were impromptus, meaning teams only
had 1 hour to prepare the debate.

Unfortunately, the debaters lost rounds 6 and 7 to Goethe-Gymnasium
Karlsruhe and Ernst-Sigle Gymnasium Kornwestheim.

However, the team’s luck turned in round 8 and they were able to win
unanimously against Robert Bosch United World College in the prepared
debate “This house would prioritize mental health education in
schools.”

The Goethe’s senior debaters ended up breaking 4th into Octofinals
with 6 wins, 19 ballots, and 5933.75 points.

On the 23rd the debaters woke up early for the impromptu “This house
would negotiate with terrorists” and narrowly beat
Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium Frankfurt in a split decision.

Now the senior team will debate in the quarterfinals taking place on
the 31st of May.

Moreover, one of our debaters Michael Wang ended up ranking as 3rd
best speaker in Germany.

Congratulations to the seniors for a very successful season 2024/25
and best of luck for the quarterfinals!