SIS wins Covenant Day debate on gay marriage

A team from Saipan International School won the 3rd Annual Covenant Day Debate held yesterday at the Guma Hustisia after putting its points across clearly in favor of same-sex marriage.

Fourteen-year old Caroline Lochaby was the most effective when she argued that equal rights should be given to all individuals. She also said that same-sex marriage is not detrimental to society.

“We should all concentrate on accepting people no matter who they are. Whether they are gay, lesbian, black or white,” she said.

Lochaby said a week of hard work, research, and discussions helped the entire SIS team win the debate.

In the middle school division, Nathan Taitano, also from SIS, won first place. Taitano also took the same stand as Lochaby’s.

SIS debating team coach Keith Tessen said he was very proud of all the members of his team, who worked and researched together in equipping themselves well for the debate and about the subject matter in particular.

He said the students were the ones who formulated their own stand based on more than 22 documents they gathered, including clippings from articles in the New York Times.

Other winners in the middle school division were Hopwood Junior High School’s Jeffrey Bacani, 3rd place, and SIS’ Tony Rector, 2nd place.

For the high school division, the other winners were Marianas High School’s James Castro, 4th Place; MHS Gretchen Smith, 3rd place; and SIS Henry Chan, 2nd place.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta was the guest of honor in the debate. He said the event was an opportunity for CNMI students to develop their communication skills through discussions of debatable issues.

He said what was significant in the event was the process the children went through in honing their debating skills.

NMI Council for the Humanities executive director Paz C. Younis welcomed the guests and participants.

The debate’s panel of judges included William R. Barrineau, Jesus C. Borja, Lorenzo LG Cabrera, Edward Manibusan, Samuel McPhetres, Vicente N. Santos, John Del Rosario, and Lillian A. Tenorio.

Moderators were Bertha Leon Guerrero and Maggie Wonenberg. Public School System’s language arts program coordinator Stephen Smith was the master of ceremonies.

The Northern Mariana Islands Council for the Humanities, National Forensic League, and Middle School Forensic League sponsored the annual debate.