Earth Day 2024 at Santa Laurensia was a fun month with activities to help the planet. This year’s theme “Nurturing Positive Habits: Small Actions, Big Change,” was about taking small steps to live sustainably. Through the school’s annual P5 program, students worked together to make a real impact while learning how little changes can add to something bigger.
After a month with various eco-friendly actions and fun competitions participated by the students, alas, Earth Day is coming to an end, and how else to end it without a balloon debate? The prompt for this debate is: The Earth is now sinking, and the only way to save it is by sending gases off the Earth. Each class is assigned a greenhouse gas and is tasked to defend their gas, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, protecting it from elimination and convincing the audience to let it remain on earth. This event is targeted towards and is compulsory to be participated by grade 10 and 11 students.
Before the debate, each class will have to prepare their debate material and presentation booths. Each class will have to create 3 different groups; Research, Debate, and Presentation Booth. The roles of these groups are as follows:
Researchers: The researchers are responsible for preparing the materials needed for both the debate and the booth. They will also have the authority to vote and must sit at the front of the class rows before the debate begins.
Debate: The debate will revolve around the Earth sinking and the only solution being to send gases off the Earth. Students in the Debate group will defend their class’ respective gas, arguing that it is not the primary culprit of global warming and should not be blamed or expelled. Electronic devices are prohibited during the debate to prevent the use of AI, so all materials must be printed in advance. The Debate group will not have voting rights.
Presentation Booth: The Presentation Booth group is tasked with creating an engaging and informative booth about the assigned gas. This includes developing an A3 poster and setting up the booth in the designated space provided by the committee. Materials and decorations will be covered by each class’s funds. Presentation groups will also have voting rights and must sit at the front of the class rows before the debate starts.
The day of the debate will be divided into two main sections: Presentation Booth and Debate Rounds.
Presentation Booth: Each class will have two representatives who will present their booth within the allotted time. Other students are free to roam and explore the booths. Judges will visit each booth, and their evaluation will account for 60% of the total score.
Debate Rounds: In each round, the Debate group will deliver a brief speech (no longer than 90 seconds) explaining why their gas should not be blamed and sent off the Earth. After all groups have spoken, a Q&A session will be held, allowing the audience to ask questions or challenge the arguments. Following the Q&A, the voting will take place. Voting rights are reserved for the researchers and the students in the Presentation Booth group. Each class will receive two post-its (one for researchers and one for the Presentation Booth group) to vote for the team they wish to eliminate in that round. The MC will collect the votes after 5 minutes and announce the results. If there is a tie, both teams will debate again for no more than 90 seconds each. A second vote will then be held, and if the vote remains tied, both teams will be eliminated. After five rounds, the last two teams will proceed to the final round, where they will again present their arguments, answer questions, and undergo another round of voting. The team with the most votes will take first place, and the other will secure second place. The title of "Best Class" will be awarded to the class with the highest combined score (60% from the Presentation Booth and 40% from the Debate), excluding the 1st and 2nd place winners.