At Capstone, debate isn’t just an extra-curricular activity, it is a transformative tool to create better thinkers, speakers and leaders. Learning debating is the ultimate hack to acquiring skills that are universally applicable to all subjects and settings. Capstone students see the power of a critical mind as they learn how to think independently and solve problems. It builds up their confidence to verbalise their thoughts clearly and confidently at every opportunity. They explore different global issues, current affairs, and contemporary news; and they learn to form their own critical opinion on these issues. Students who are awarded in large-scale debating competitions improve their chances of securing admission to competitive schools and colleges.
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Founded on the belief that talented students thrive on a robust education that nurtures individual strengths, Capstone has been the critical thinking and debate pioneer in Hong Kong and Asia for over a decade. The driving force behind Capstone is its students, and the growth and success of the students has always been the top priority of Capstone.
The Capstone Debate Team consists of some of the best high school debaters in Hong Kong. Their members consistently qualify for Hong Kong’s national debate team for the annual World Schools Debating Championship. They also qualify for the final round of prestigious global championships, such as the Oxford Schools and the Cambridge Schools. Debaters at Capstone also win numerous debate championships every year, including the Asia Schools Open and Tournament of Champions Asia.
Capstone has organised an elaborate Debate Team program whereby members can sign up to unlimited debate practice sessions on a daily basis. They are invited to engage in debate competitions on a monthly basis while free competition preparations and training are guaranteed. They can access an active debate community server with strong mentorship and resources shared daily. Weekly modules allow team members to keep abreast of global issues and current affairs.
Students who lack competitive experience also have a place to start in Capstone as they have debate development courses for beginner, intermediate, and advanced debaters as well. In these courses, students learn the fundamentals of debating and engage in debate practices through weekly lessons. Every week, coaches teach them a skill component and a matter component that introduces them to current issues. Students who have tapped into their passion and ambition for debating can compete in the Capstone Official Team Selection Day where the best debaters are chosen. They join the competitive Official Team where unlimited debate practice sessions are provided to fuel our students’ ambition and accelerate their improvement. Students engage in case building, competitive drills, break down the debate speeches, and more.
Capstone boasts exclusively top debate trainers, including current and former head national debate team coaches for Korea and Malaysia (for the World Schools Debating Championship). Some top coaches include Mai Mokhsein, Asia’s best speaker, 3-time Asia’s best judge and Malaysia’s national team coach; Mahar Mangahas, Coach of multiple Asian varsity champions, Asian schools champion & Worlds’ finalist; Tamkeen Nawab, Grand Finals’ judge of both the World Universities & World Schools Debating Championship. In Hong Kong, no other program has produced more national team debaters than Capstone. To put it simply, Capstone is unrivalled in its ability to take students from absolute beginner level to the highest levels of debate. Capstone has also collaborated with various renowned debate unions since 2015 to promote both our students’ training and the growth of debate.
