Apostolado Debate Tournament

Apostolado Debate Tournament: Day one.

María Paula Hernández, Student Reporter

Monday, December 17th, 2018.-

SANTO DOMINGO- This 17th and 18th of December of the year 2018, Colegio del Apostolado is having one of the most waited events of the year which is called: Apostolado Debate Tournament. This event consists on formal debates of 45 minutes each one, performed by the students of 9th grade against 10th grade, and students from 11th grade against 12th grade with the following resolutions to debate:  "The USA should open its border to Central American caravans for humanitarian reasons" and "It is benefitial to the United Kingdom to leave the European Union". Resolutions that were discussed by approximately 24 couples.

As audience, we were able to see the following debates: María Latour and Ingrid Tezanos with Mia Tejeda and Ninakatella Martínez, who were discussing the first resolution. After that, we saw Cinthia Cruz and Patricia Valdespino debating against Angélica Germán and Camila Concepción, who were debating the second resolution mentioned above, just like the third and last debate that we saw between Angélica Germán and Camila Concepción against Diana Paulino and Chantal Michel.

 During these debates, several things were appreciated, both positive and negative, for example: Some students were so nervous that sometimes, even though they knew what they were saying, they got lost and their ideas lost clarity. But at the same time, it was really pleasing to see how each student prepared for months to have great results and how this was seen and appreciated. It was also really pleasing to see how there was a harmony between teams that in the end, helped each student individually to be confident and to trust themselves.

In conclusion, these debates have accomplished most of the expectations that the rest of the school had. Apparently, this was a good start since only six couples were deleted. We hope that the second day accomplishes the expectations as well.