Sweating a lot and practicing a lot, but that was successful this afternoon. Denise, Noor, Quinty and Rianne participated in the final of the National Debating Championships under the guidance of their teacher Marco Olij and finished in fourteenth place. And that was much better than the students of the Bertrand Russel College in Krommenie ever expected.
After the necessary preliminary rounds, the foursome stood on the stage of the National Debating Championships in Utrecht this afternoon. Initially, this caused some nerves, because the opponents of the team from Krommenie were not the least, Denise tells NH.
“You look up to all those teams, because we weren’t the best team. But then you see: they are cool and super good, but they are all just people. They could have been my classmates.”
Very proud
The foursome knew from the preliminary rounds that their opponents were of a higher level than they had previously experienced. Why did things go so well during the final? “Maybe our opponents had a bad day,” Quinty says modestly.
“I don’t know, we just did our best and it went very well. We had three very nice debates and when I heard that we came fourteenth, I was very proud.”
Text continues after image.
Teacher Marco Olij looks back with pride on the North Holland derby against Amsterdam’s Vossius Gymnasium. “That was a difficult statement about UN missions. I had all kinds of scenarios in my head, and it is always nice when preparations turn out well.”
Passion and enthusiasm
According to Olij, it went even better than in the preliminary rounds. “And that is the most important thing: that there is growth, passion and enthusiasm. That was exactly what the jury complimented the team on.”
The team already has plans for the future, and that is to participate in the largest debate tournament in the Netherlands: ‘On the way to Het Lagerhuis’. Noor: “And next year we will try again to get into the semi-finals of the National Debating Championships.”