AISV team - 1st place winners of CEESA High School Speech and Debate Tournament in Warsaw, Poland

By Karolis, Grade 11

 Eight international schools from different countries participated in the CEESA Speech and Debate Tournament in Warsaw on November 12-14^th and AISV was one of them. Our team knew that AISV is a small school compared to other CEESA schools, however they realized that this doesn't make you win or lose. AISV’s speech and debate team decided to prove that it's all about how much hard work and passion you put in. So, our team worked extremely hard for this tournament and the time finally came when they had to prove themselves.

On the way to Warsaw, it was obvious that everyone was very nervous. During the opening ceremony it seemed that everyone was slightly trembling because they knew that they will have to perform very soon. The first round has begun. Everyone wished good luck to each other and left to different classrooms to do their event. It wasn't easy but everyone still put it a lot of hard work into their speeches and debates. After three rounds the judges announced that one of AISV’s speech and debate teams (Rokas and David) and an original oratory speaker (Ailbhe) made it to the finals. Even though the team wasn't satisfied with their individual performances, they were still very cheerful for the finalists. The whole team was watching and supporting them in the finals and after their extraordinary speeches and arguments, they couldn't wait for the results. It didn't take long for the judges to count the scores and after a while they were announced. Unfortunately, the original oratory speaker, Ailbhe, didn't make it to the top three but the debate team of Rokas and David won gold! So, AISV’s speech and debate team proved that even small schools can get gold medals!