Anguillan Debaters Say Thanks

(ZIZ News) – The Anguilla Debating Team successfully won the 43rd annual Leeward Islands Debating Competition on Sunday. The debaters expressed thanks to those who helped make it happen.

Speaking to ZIZ News following the win against Montserrat, Anguilla’s Kasem Thompson said it was an excellent feeling to be voted the competition’s overall Best Speaker.

“It’s a great honour. I attribute it to God. He gave me the opportunity to debate and I made the best of the opportunity and it was well rewarded. All the practicing, the writing it came to pass for a good cause,” he said.

The Best Speaker during Sunday’s final, Arianna Woodley, used the opportunity to express gratitude to those who assisted the debating team in its preparations.

She said, “It was extremely difficult but we got there and if it wasn’t for a lot of people, I don’t think we would have made it this far and we just want to say thank you to everyone who helped and even though we may not be able to thank you with something tangible, just know that we very much so appreciate your help.”

Meanwhile, Sabrina Connor said she gained new experiences competing in her first regional debating competition.

“We had tireless nights, lots of research but we especially had lots of help and support and we definitely could not have done this without our support team and without our fellow debaters for leading us on and making us believe that we would win and we indeed win and I’m so grateful to them for that. Being both our first time debating in an actual literally debating competition, we are so proud of ourselves and our other teammates who have participated because really all of this is our first time, except for our senior ambassador. So we are very proud of ourselves and we hope to bring the same fury next year,” she said.

In the finals on Sunday night, opposing the moot, “When Public Funds are Mismanaged, Government Leaders Should Face Criminal Prosecution,” Anguilla scored 654 to win the coveted title.