Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

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Debating This year has been an exciting year for debating, - a year of con- solidation, of progress, mistakes - but as an end result, debating has taken on a new dimension. Twenty-eight boys represented Appleby in no less than twenty- three inter-school debates and tournaments this year, the most number of debates Appleby boys have been involved in since the creation of the Debating Society. In inter-house debating no less than fifty-four boys debated in fif- teen informal but hopefully enlightening confrontations, plus we also took on the respon- sibility of sending three debaters to the Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly. Debating took on an added im- petus with the enthusiastic influx of 9E who were made aware of the fun of debating through the direction and leadership of Mrs. Dickens. Thank you Mrs. Dickens for your unremitting support and guiding hand. Futhermore this year, the Debating Society has instituted a new award which will be bestowed and presented for out- standing contributions to debating - a Debating Tie. Awards will be selected by the Society ' s co-ordinator in cooperation with previous holders of a debating tie. This year Debating Ties have been awarded to Kevin McMurchy, Ed Dickens, and Bryan Davies. It is hoped that the presentation of debating ties will further instill the desire to attain the highest concievable levels of achieve- ment in debating, as well as be- coming an Appleby tradition. During the past year Appleby de- baters have attained the status of being the debating team to beat. Our aggressiveness has not al- ways met with favour from the judges, but our major debates have been fun and that is above all the name of the game. It is ►©lUTl OKI . It IS Tfese VrYTO I hoped, in fact, it is imperative that Debating becomes a mjaor activity in our school, even more so than it already is. Debating throughout the province has grown, and is still growing at a fantastic rate. And as a result of this past year ' s success, Appleby has been requested to lead and co-ordinate debating in the new- ly formed Halton-Peel Region. We feel confident that this will further debating not only within our Society but within the pro- vince of Ontario as well. During the Winter and Spring Terms, Appleby was represented at the St. Clement ' s Tournament, the St. Andrew ' s College Tour- nament and the Regional Tour- nament at Lakefield. As a result Kevin McMurchy was selected to represent the Toronto region at the Provincial Finals, held this year at Trent University, in which 64 debaters took part. Kevin distinguished himself by retur- ning to Appleby as the second best debater in Ontario. But as always, it was the people involved that made debating a success. The names of Peter Taylor, Ian Cameron, Hartland Paterson, David Crosbie, Tom Henkel, Nick Waterfield, Sean 60

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The Russia Trip I found the trip to Russia to be a very enjoyable one - although there were numerous occasions when everyone got totally an- noyed with the long waiting and bad organization - more so, it was a trip from which everyone gained a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge. Branksome Hall, St. Mildred ' s Lightbourn and U.T.S. proved to be very good company and we all got along very well. After a good rest from the long plane ride, the first thing we visited was Red Square and Lenin ' s tomb. The tomb, situated just outside the Kremlin walls and in the centre of Red Square, is opened for three hours a day and is visited by about 70,000 people per day! So one can imagine the long line up. Security was tight and silence is a must once the entrance to the tomb is approached. Beyond the tomb is St. Basil ' s cathedral - one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture today. With eight entirely different gold plated domes that glistened in the sun, St. Basil ' s proved to be a truly captivating spectacle. Other places of interest that we visited were: the Circus (which was on ice); the Kremlin and its ■I It fit ■ f prf V t numerous cathedrals within and a general tour of the city. Shopping in Russia has got to be the most difficult thing to at- tempt. Every shop is perpetually packed with people. One af- ternoon, I had the good fortune of going shopping with a friend of mine. We walked into what is called the GUM Store (a huge department store in Red Square) in search of caviar. After fighting our way through the masses of bodies, we came to the right store. Then we discovered that in order to buy anything we had to get in line, which, incidently, was very long. All this trouble just to get into the store. After we got in, we went on a mad search for caviar. Needless to say we could not find what we wanted because nobody understood us. However, we did get across to a lady at one of the counters what we were looking for. But she gave us such a fierce nyet that we decided to be on our way. Leningrad was more modern compared to Moscow. But no matter where we went, we still saw the occasional lady sweeping the streets, shovelling snow and of course one cannot possibly forget the children who approached you with a wide smile and saying one of the few English words they know - Gum? - hoping to have it ex- changed for one of the many but- tons they had with them. Touring all the time got to be a wee bit boring but when we visited the Hermitage, perhaps the most well known museum in the world, our enthusiasm was certainly aroused. With its famous paintings, sculptures and antiques, the Hermitage turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. During our three day stay in Leningrad we visited the Czar ' s Summer Palace in Pushkin, St. Peter and Paul cathedrals, which used to be a prison during the revolution, and we saw the ballet Swan Lake . We returned to Moscow from Leningrad and stayed there for a day. During the trip, no matter how tough a day we went through, somehow everyone found at least a bit of energy to mingle and socialize in the evenings. Our trip back was pleasant and I have never seen so many weary faces than those that were on the trip, all eager to get home, all with an experience they will never forget. Chris Zahovskis 59

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Baines, and Brad Thompson can- not be forgotten. They all argued forcefully in their own style, be it suave, humourous, sincere or boisterous. Our particular thanks go to Paul Van Tighem who on two occasions pulled us out of a bind at the very last moment. In fact, for the regional tournament he had a half an hour ' s notice. There are so many others, who participated in debating, and who took part as speakers, or timers who should be mentioned. I would particularly like to extend the thanks of the entire Debating Society to all those people from the Oakville area, as well as the masters ' wives, who gave up their evenings to judge sometimes boring, often amateur, but hopefully enlightening debaters. Mr. Humphreys ' per- formance as coach, organizer and judge, as well as his gentle guidance throughout the year spurred all members of the Society to do their best, and we are grateful for his help this year. As regards the future of debating all that needs to be said is that this writer is confident, and refuses to believe that all the ef- fort has been put into debating this year will be allowed to come to naught. Debating has carved out for itself a permanent and prominent position at Appleby this year, and there is unlimited potential for the success of debating at Appleby in years to come. Kevin W. McMurchy President 61