10
February 3, 2015
catholic schools
T
he Valley Catholic
Bellarmine College Preparatory Advances in International Debate Contest
Students from Bellarmine College
Preparatory have advanced to the “Top
32” round of an international debate
competition. The Bickel & Brewer/New
York University International Public
Policy Forum (IPPF) is the first and only
competition that gives high school students around the world the opportunity
to engage in written and oral debates on
issues of public policy.
By advancing, the students remain
eligible to win a $10,000 grand prize and
an all-expenses-paid trip to the IPPF
Finals in New York City in May 2015.
“We are very proud of Bellarmine
College Preparatory and all of the teams
that advanced in this very competitive
global debate challenge,” says William
A. Brewer III, partner at the law firm
of Bickel & Brewer and a founder of
the IPPF. “These students have distinguished themselves as among the best
in this unique test of research, writing
and advocacy.”
This year, 243 teams – representing
schools in 32 U.S. states and 21 countries
– submitted qualifying round essays
affirming or negating the IPPF topic,
“Resolved: Mass surveillance is not a justified method of governmental intelligence
gathering.” Those essays were reviewed
by a committee, which determined the
top 64 teams based on the overall quality
of each 2,800-word essay.
In November, the “Round of 64”
teams began a single-elimination,
written debate competition. Each team
was assigned a position (affirmative or
negative) and then volleyed papers back
and forth with another team via email.
A panel of judges reviewed the essays
and selected the winning teams. In that
round, Bellarmine College Preparatory
defeated Hamilton High School from
Chandler, Arizona.
The “Top 32” round begins immediately. Bellarmine College Preparatory
will compete against St. Mark’s School
of Texas from Dallas, Texas. The top 32
teams represent schools from 17 U.S.
states and five countries, including
the United States, Czech Republic, and
Singapore.
The prevailing teams will be an-
nounced on February 12, and will
compete in the “Sweet 16” round. On
March 19, the “Elite 8” teams will be
announced. Those teams will travel to
New York City on an all-expenses-paid
trip to the IPPF Finals in New York City.
The Finals will take place on May 2,
2015, at the Harold Pratt House.
The IPPF Finals give students the opportunity to participate in oral debates
in front of some of the world’s foremost
experts in debate, business, law and
politics. Judges will include Bickel &
Brewer Partner William A. Brewer III
and New York University President
John Sexton. The winning team will take
home the “Bickel & Brewer Cup” and a
$10,000 grand prize.
St. John Vianney participates in
National Geographic Bee 2015
Social studies teacher Tom Gama congratulates eighth grade student Brennan Potter
after he was named winner of the St. John
Vianney Geography Bee.
St. John Vianney School participated
in the National Geographic Bee, which
is a nationwide contest for students in
grades 4-8.
There are three levels of competition: school, state, and national. On
January 13, two to three representative
from each class competed [