Manila, Philippines — A Filipino student debater from Baguio wins the gold medal in the World Schools Debate Championship (WSDC) for the first time in history.
At the aforementioned competition, Robert Leung from Philippine Science High School – Baguio Campus, was named Overall Best Speaker with an average of 73.17 speaker points throughout eight (8) preliminary debate rounds. He outperformed 372 other students from across the world.
At the 2021 edition of WSDC, three more members of the Philippine high school debate team were recognized as best speakers. The 4th Best Speaker award went to David Bloom of the International School of Manila. Jake Peralta of Southridge High School received the 6th Best Speaker award. Riva Fong of De La Salle Zobel received the 11th Best Speaker award.
Out of eight preliminary rounds, the Philippine Team had six (6) victories and two (2) defeats giving the Philippines another bronze medal, finishing third in the knockout stages. The Philippines beat the following countries; the Czech Republic in the pre-octos, India in the octo-finals, and Romania in the quarterfinals to advance to the semi-finals, but they were defeated by Hong Kong on the theme ” This House supports an individual carbon credit” on finals.
The Philippine debate team had to go through eight (8) challenging rounds of argument in the preliminary rounds. The first four rounds consisted of ”prepared motions”, which were handed to the team a month ahead of time so they could research and prepare their arguments. The other four rounds were “impromptu motions,” which were provided about an hour before the debate.
The 2021 World Schools Debate Championship was participated by 76 countries from all around the world. Macau hosted the event, which began on July 26 and ended on August 6.
Here are the following High School students who bagged medals in the 2021 WSDC:
- Robert Leung- Overall Best Speaker title
- Grade 12, Philippine Science High School (Baguio campus)
- David Bloom- awarded 4th Best Speaker
- Grade 12, International School of Manila (Taguig campus)
- Jake Peralta- awarded 6th Best Speaker.
- Grade 12, PAREF Southridge High School (Alabang campus)
- Riva Fong
- Grade 12, De La Salle Zobel High School (Alabang campus)
- Chanel Ang
- Grade 12, Immaculate Conception Academy High School (Greenhills campus)
(Photo Courtesy: World Schools Philippine Debate Team)
Asian debate champion Jesus Falcis III tapped the greatest debaters in the world from the London School of Economics to train and coach the 2021 WSDC Philippine Team.
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