With four wins under their belt, Goethe’s Seniors journeyed to Heidelberg for the Debating Society Germany’s annual Debating weekend.
In Heidelberg, rounds 5 to 8 were carried out. On their first day, the Seniors faced Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium Marbach in a tough prepared debate on self-driving cars. After a long and interesting debate, Goethe-Gymnasium came out on top and eagerly awaited the next day where the remaining three preliminary rounds were held. The next morning, the Seniors got up early and competed against Andreae-Gymnasium Herrenberg in an impromptu debate on the motion “This house prefers non-career politicians to career politicians”. This debate was won by our Seniors, too. Shortly thereafter, the Seniors faced their toughest opponent yet – Königin-Olga-Stift Gymnasium Stuttgart in a fun debate on long-distance relationships. Unfortunately, the Seniors lost this round, but quickly came back in the next debate on the decline of religiosity in the West against International School Frankfurt.
With 7 out of 8 wins, the Seniors ranked 2nd out of 39 schools and advanced to the Octofinals. Time for some well-deserved ice-cream in the city centre of Heidelberg on Saturday night!
The next morning, the Seniors debated the team from Bismarck-Gymnasium Karlsruhe in an Octofinal-worthy motion: “This house believes it is morally legitimate to disengage from politics in today’s world”. After a couple of nerve-wrecking minutes of suspense, Goethe’s Seniors were crowned as victors in this debate and advanced to the Quarterfinals which will be held in May/June.
Additionally, one of our Seniors – Michael Wang – was ranked top speaker of the league with an average of 71.94 speaker points! What a success! Congratulations!
The Seniors would like to give special thanks to their coaches Rebecca Freudenberg and Andrea Wamsler and to the Verein der “Freunde des Goethe-Gymnasiums Emmendingen e.V.” Without the Verein’s generous support, the weekend in Heidelberg wouldn’t have been possible.
Goethe’s Seniors are now preparing for the upcoming Quarterfinals. Best of luck!
Text: Rebecca Freudenberg