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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, January 20, 2 0 1 7 11 8 Every week we showcase topics around town. SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you happen to come across an interesting topic relevant to your community, and you have a good picture to prove it, we'll do our hest to publish it on this page. Email it to ahlackhum @oakvilleheaver.com, along with your nam e and a brief paragraph about why you w ant to share it with our readers. W O S S d e b a te rs h e a d in g to C a m b rid g e by Nathan Howes O akville Beaver S ta ff "Y 'Y "Thite Oaks Secondary School \ / \ / (WOSS) students continue to V debate their way to the top. At the recent Queen' s University high school tournament, the Oakville school' s senior team, Ethan Strathdee and Kashaf Salaheen, and the junior pairing of Alice Chen and Amr Saleh, placed in the top five in their respective categories. WOSS was one of 114 teams at the tournament. As a result, the students qualified for a contest at Cambridge University in England next month -- representing the only Canadian school with both a senior and junior team participating. "It was really rewarding because we've been doing this for four years now. It was a really good result, especially since it' s one of our last tournaments in high school. It was really nice to have that," admitted Salaheen, 17. The Grade 12 student has been debating since she first began attending WOSS in Grade 9. Salaheen noted the school has participated in approximately five tournaments this school year. "They usually (happen on) weekends and we're always working," said Salaheen. The amount of preparation work for tournaments, such as the Queen' s University The White Oaks Secondary School debate team continues to achieve outstanding results in competition. Most recently, the north Oakville high school will be the only Canadian school sending both a senior and junior debate team to a contest a t Cambridge University in England next month. | submitted photo debate, is "quite cumulative," she said, as she reads the newspaper for at least 10 minutes a day and practises with the other students every week for a minimum of two hours. "It' s not just a huge workload right before tournaments, but rather just over the past few months," said Salaheen. The competition at Queen' s University was tough, particularly later on in the more "intense rounds," Salaheen described. "Because it' s bracketed, you go against teams that are as good as you. It' s quite scary sometimes going against a team who is just as good as you are. But it' s a lot of fun and the competition is great," said Salaheen. Challenging others in debate is what the 17-year-old enjoys the most about it, she said, even though she gets "really nervous" during a contest. "But, it becomes very rewarding at the end of the day," said Salaheen. Strathdee placed fourth out of 2 2 8 speakers at the Queen' s University high school debate tournament. W orking for Individuals and Sm all Businesses Knowledge Strategy w w w .jw a r c h ite c t.c o m L A W Y E R S sinan l PERSONAL INJURY COMMERCIAL LITIGATION EMPLOYMENT LAW &WSIB L P HOUSES 1-888-880-7080 KELLYSINGHLAW.COM 1100 Burloak Drive, Suite 604, Burlington, ON L7L 6B2