The Debating year in CBC was a successful one this year, especially for me, we reached the finals of the Leinster Junior debating competition which we came third in!
But for me, it was even more unforgettable and a greater achievement I never thought could reach, in only my second year here!
I had a quite extraordinary story with debating this year. At first, when I was informed about debating that took place every Friday with Mr. O'Neill teaching us, I had absolutely no idea what debating even was, but thought it's probably good for public speaking which I wanted to improve. I even missed a couple of classes but decided to do it. My first class was the one we did trials for the Leinster competition teams in! We had gotten the motion the previous week but I didn't even know that we're meant to write a speech or at least know what to say and I thought that you have to just speak about the topic there! On that trial day, I saw everyone with big sheets of paper, going over them with stress before the class began, but I hadn't even thought about the motion! So I quickly started writing some points down and thinking what I can say! The class began and I was the second person to speak, I was really nervous and started to talk about anything that came to my mind and was relevant! That actually made my "speech" quite interesting.
I was happy not to mumble or mess up when I finished it! Finally, Mr. O'Neill went to judge who he got in the teams. When he came in and gave us the results, I was chosen! Along with Conor Eivers, Cian Meghan, Jack Palmer and Conor Kelly. I was really surprised and happy!
The competition began in October and our first debate went ok and we came third, we won the next two to qualify for the round of 16. All of our teams got knocked out in this round except for Conor and I and Connor Kelly who went through as an individual speaker. We surprisingly won the quarter finals and the semi finals to qualify for the finals! By now, Conor and I who even were CBC's team D (the worst CBC team) were the only team from the school left in the competition!
We got ready for the final and practiced everyday as much as we could for the final. We were nervous on the day but knew how amazing it would be if we won. It could have gone better and we came third, although our parents and people who saw us said that we were good enough to come second. Anyway, this year and especially that day was one of the most important days in my life, I never thought I could reach the finals of such a hard and serious competition having lived in this country only for two years. So I'm very happy and would like to thank Mr. O'Neill for all his assistance and support which non of these achievements could've been possible without him, I also hope that we can repeat this success again next year, perhaps winning the competition!
But for me, it was even more unforgettable and a greater achievement I never thought could reach, in only my second year here!
I had a quite extraordinary story with debating this year. At first, when I was informed about debating that took place every Friday with Mr. O'Neill teaching us, I had absolutely no idea what debating even was, but thought it's probably good for public speaking which I wanted to improve. I even missed a couple of classes but decided to do it. My first class was the one we did trials for the Leinster competition teams in! We had gotten the motion the previous week but I didn't even know that we're meant to write a speech or at least know what to say and I thought that you have to just speak about the topic there! On that trial day, I saw everyone with big sheets of paper, going over them with stress before the class began, but I hadn't even thought about the motion! So I quickly started writing some points down and thinking what I can say! The class began and I was the second person to speak, I was really nervous and started to talk about anything that came to my mind and was relevant! That actually made my "speech" quite interesting.
I was happy not to mumble or mess up when I finished it! Finally, Mr. O'Neill went to judge who he got in the teams. When he came in and gave us the results, I was chosen! Along with Conor Eivers, Cian Meghan, Jack Palmer and Conor Kelly. I was really surprised and happy!
The competition began in October and our first debate went ok and we came third, we won the next two to qualify for the round of 16. All of our teams got knocked out in this round except for Conor and I and Connor Kelly who went through as an individual speaker. We surprisingly won the quarter finals and the semi finals to qualify for the finals! By now, Conor and I who even were CBC's team D (the worst CBC team) were the only team from the school left in the competition!
We got ready for the final and practiced everyday as much as we could for the final. We were nervous on the day but knew how amazing it would be if we won. It could have gone better and we came third, although our parents and people who saw us said that we were good enough to come second. Anyway, this year and especially that day was one of the most important days in my life, I never thought I could reach the finals of such a hard and serious competition having lived in this country only for two years. So I'm very happy and would like to thank Mr. O'Neill for all his assistance and support which non of these achievements could've been possible without him, I also hope that we can repeat this success again next year, perhaps winning the competition!
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