{"id":514958,"date":"2026-07-08T00:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T00:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/514958\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T00:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T00:43:08","slug":"tauranga-students-to-represent-new-zealand-at-world-debating-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/514958\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga students to represent New Zealand at World Debating Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vahey-Bourne said being selected to represent New Zealand was \u201chard to comprehend\u201d. <\/p>\n

She first competed in Year 11 after joining her school\u2019s team<\/a> as a last-minute third member and said the experience inspired her to pursue debating more seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still pretty new to debating in some ways, so I was pretty shocked to be selected. I didn\u2019t expect it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bay of Plenty team was one of the standout performers at the national championships, making the top four.<\/p>\n

Their run came to an end in the semi-finals, where they debated whether mineral-rich African states should form a collective bargaining cartel for critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Vahey-Bourne said the team remained undefeated through the preliminary rounds but were disappointed to fall short before the championship final.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially to have beaten Otago twice already, but they\u2019re such an amazing team and went on to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vahey-Bourne said she used to be \u201creally shy\u201d, but debating had helped build her confidence in public speaking.<\/p>\n

\"PearlPearl Vahey-Bourne, 17, has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Schools Debating Championships in Kenya. Photo \/ Kaitlyn Morrell<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a third speaker, so I speak last, and it\u2019s mainly responsive, so I find that being able to think on my feet is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she prepared for Kenya, Pearl said she was most looking forward to experiencing a large-scale international competition and, above all, immersing herself in African culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most nervous about the actual debating. Having to get up and talk in front of all these people who are obviously so talented, it\u2019s terrifying.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tauranga Boys\u2019 College head boy Oliver Larsen was selected as captain of the New Zealand team.<\/p>\n

He has represented the Bay of Plenty for the past three years<\/a> and was named as a reserve for the national team last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting selected for the team was a goal of mine this year and taking that extra step of getting captain was pretty surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said in the last couple of years, leadership had been his biggest strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been the second speaker, so I help our first speaker build their case and establish what we\u2019re going to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what he loved most about debating, Oliver said the \u201carguing part was fun\u201d but also the challenge of how to approach a topic.<\/p>\n

He said teams often only have an hour to come up with a case to compete against some of the \u201csmartest kids\u201d in New Zealand \u2013 and now the world. <\/p>\n

\"OliverOliver Larsen, 17, has been selected as the captain of the New Zealand team to compete at the World Schools Debating Championships in Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being analytical. I find that it\u2019s probably the most enjoyable part when you come up with a cool idea or a good response, so it\u2019s just breaking it down and staying rational.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larsen said as he headed to Kenya, he was most looking forward to meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds who shared his interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter doing debating for a while, you get familiar with topics so it\u2019ll be cool now to understand the wider world perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tauranga Boys\u2019 College principal Andrew Turner said the school was \u201creally proud\u201d of Oliver for pursuing his passion and earning the chance to represent New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets to lead the team and travel the world, I mean that\u2019s got to be the ultimate story for any young person, that if you work hard, doors will open for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner said he hoped the experience would help the students grow and challenge themselves in a field they were passionate about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think being able to get there, compete, test themselves, meet other young people their age, is going to be exciting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026 New Zealand Schools Debating Team:<\/p>\n

Oliver Larson (Bay of Plenty), Emily Roy (Otago), Cerisa Gu (Auckland), Pearl Vahey-Bourne (Bay of Plenty) and Michael Cash (Wellington).<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vahey-Bourne said being selected to represent New Zealand was \u201chard to comprehend\u201d. She first competed in Year 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1975,5759,119857,117,111,43,139,69,13117,3767,1227,61,377,80],"class_list":["post-514958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-at","tag-championships","tag-debating","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-represent","tag-students","tag-tauranga","tag-to","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}