Provocative, Explorative, Enlightening

Last year, PEE Talks was an initiative focused on bringing professionals from outside RCHK to speak about their field to students. The aim was to expand RCHK’s networks and expose students to topics outside school. However, this year, I realised that because Y10 and Y11 will have increased schoolwork, I will not have time to organise an event each month. Therefore, with the new Y10/11 S&A Proposal Form initiated by Mr Julian, I reformed the club into an interest that I and many others share: debate.

The premise of the RCHK PEE Debate Cup is to invite professionals to judge an annual debate competition. There are multiple rounds split between junior and senior teams, where motions are centred around a common theme, such as sustainability.

After the approval of my proposal form by Ms Laughton, I recruited two other students to help with the launch of my new initiative. Despite Ms Laughton’s approval, we needed the approval of another teacher to launch the club. Because the RCHK Debate Cup hosts annual debates focused around a theme, I wanted to start a test-run of the event to see whether the debate competition would garner enough attention before inviting professionals to judge. After about one month of waiting for approval, we decided take initiative and ask another teacher. This time, we approached Ms Sanker, the head of debate. She approved the competition immediately, and we started the first official RCHK debate competition.

The debates competition went well, and sign-ups were popular amongst MUN students and debaters. Ultimately, the experience of reforming this club taught me that I need to take initiative instead of waiting for others to help me. Waiting for others’ approval wasted a month of progress. I hope to apply this mindset next year when inviting professional judges for the annual competition, and open it to ESF as RCHK’s official debate cup!