As captain of the Centre Dufferin District High School debating team I am very grateful for the acknowledgement of our sport by your newspaper. However, I have some problems with the article as well.

As for, “credit for the accomplishment is due almost entirely to a single teacher...”

I have some trouble with this because, although Mr. Orford remains the inspiration behind the team, we first of all, have two coaches (which include Mrs. Murray). Secondly, all our meetings are run by senior members of the team and the driving force behind the team is, frankly, its team members. Mr. Orford even states as you have mentioned in your article, “they came to me to start the team, not the other way round.”

The debate we held on Monday went off without a hitch, mainly because of the organization of ALL members. The judges that were present, aside from the teaching staff, were members of the community who had been invited mainly by the members of the team.

As for the article’s comment that there would probably be no team if it weren’t for Orford, that may be true, however, I am not a firm believer of that fact. He is an inspirational teacher and coach, but because this sport is mainly driven by the students on the team, I highly doubt it is all to the credit of Mr. Orford.

With all this said, we do owe a large amount of credit to both our coaches. I am incredibly proud of all the accomplishments our team members have made and i sincerely hope the debating tradition will continue at Centre Dufferin.

Marin Mac Namara

CDDHS