Oxford Cup Finals Fund

Through this fund, we will have the opportunity to participate in an international debate tournament at Oxford University in England. We qualified for this event at a National Tournament in Montreal in November, where we placed 3rd in all of Canada. We are debaters from Burnaby Mountain Secondary School, a public school in Burnaby. We have been debating for years and have struggled throughout our debate careers to compete against students from high socioeconomic classes who receive private education and can easily afford to attend prestigious events. Over the years, we have faced major obstacles to success in debate, we did not previously have a coach, meaning we had to self-teach and develop our skills independently, this was a disadvantage that led to much difficulty. Regardless of this, we refused to give up on our goals and continued to practice and learn and attend tournaments and did not allow ourselves to be forgotten in a debate community that at times, overlooks public school students. Finally, after all these years, we have seen our hard work pay off. We won 1st place at the UBC 2017 High-School Tournament, which is the largest tournament on the West Coast. We then traveled to Montreal and competed at a National qualifier, where we broke into finals, placed 3rd in Canada, won individual speaker awards, and advanced to this event in England. These accomplishments have really made our difficult journey in debate worth it, and we are honored to have been chosen to represent Canada in England. In addition to that honor, participation at this event will provide us with a truly invaluable experience. Debate is not just an extracurricular activity that we do for fun, debate develops important skills, such as public speaking, and critical thinking, as well as fosters huge intellectual and emotional growth. An international tournament, where we will compete against some truly exceptional world-class debaters will be a once in a lifetime learning experience.

This fund is needed to help make this experience possible. Money raised will be contributing to the flight costs, accommodations and registration fees for this event. The event is taking place on March 10, 2018, any donations from now until then will be put towards our participation.

A little more about the debaters:

Miranda, is a grade 12 student. She comes from a single parent household where the cost of an active debate career has always been a challenge. Given this, Miranda works part-time to afford her passion for debate. She has been an active member of her school's debate team for 5 years and has participated in many national events, even becoming a North American Champion at the 2017 Women and Gender Minorities International University Debate Championships where she, an 11th-grade student, competed against university students from across North America and won. Miranda has been coaching younger students at her school in debate and speech for a few years and is currently the President of Burnaby Mountain's Debate club.


Carolyn, is a grade 11 student who has been in debate for 3 years. Being an overachiever, Carolyn has a ton of work on her plate. She is a passionate student taking numerous advanced courses above her grade level, regardless of her academic workload Carolyn has managed to dedicate extensive time for debate and has been an absolutely invaluable partner. Although her choice to debate with a partner above her grade and experience level meant that she would be facing disproportionally skilled competition, she has never let that get in her way and has always managed to absolutely exceed all expectations, most recently placing 3rd as an individual speaker in Canada at the National Qualifier for this event. She has also been an active facilitator of Burnaby Mountain’s debate club and is preparing to take over as President in her grade 12 year.