Westlake Girls was invited by North Harbour Rotary to participate in another fundraising celebrity debate this year. Two of our Year 12 students, Sydney Brandolino and Isabella Drummond, and Year 11 student Shivani Arivuchelvan took up the challenge of debating against Carmel College.

Both teams were joined by a member of Parliament. Westlake Girls had Chloe Swarbrick and Carmel had David Seymour.

The moot was ‘This House believes New Zealanders should support overseas charities’. Westlake chose the controversial negative side but was able to make a convincing case in support of helping New Zealand charities more given the current economic situation.

Our winning team was the first recipient to win the David Nottage Memorial Trophy in memory of former Rotary member, David Nottage who was a former Toastmasters’ World Champion.