Quick-witted Wicklow students take part in KCETB debate day
Students from Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown pictured at the KCETB debate day
Six bright students from Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown took part in a debate day organised by the Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (KCETB) last week.
Fifth year students Jadin Qin, Tara Murphy, Liam D'Este, Joseph Gavin-Lynch, Conor Byrne and Alisha Bowes excelled as they made insightful contributions to their teams, with three out of the six students selected on the overall winning team.
A total of 44 students from nine schools in Wicklow/Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford were in attendance at the KCETB event.
Live debates took place in the afternoon, with debaters split up into mixed teams from all the attending schools, to encourage students to get to know each other.
All of the participating students prepared individual two-minute speeches from a range of different motions and were given time to work together on researching and preparing their speeches.
Students had the opportunity to participate in four separate workshops that explained everything about the art of rebuttal, including how to research a topic and how to use suitable sources to back up their arguments.
The Coláiste Eoin students were encouraged to find their voice by listening to a range of famous debtors, and later discussed the distinct debating team roles.
Speaking after the debate, a spokesperson for Coláiste Eoin said: “Well done to all six students who represented their school with distinction.
“All debaters got across their perspective and it was clear that the students from Coláiste Eoin wanted to be the ones that were the most persuasive.
“Ms. Kearney and the English department are looking forward to more successful debating competitions down the line."
