Debaters in Madrid! 

By Lilian S., Grade 10 

Speech and Debate has always been a part of the MIS senior school. This year the students got to travel internationally to Madrid, Spain, to compete in the 2024 NESDA competition. The tournament was three days long during which students debated, gave speeches, performed duets and more. There were seven different schools attending from all over Europe which meant there were so many new and fun people to meet and compete against. 

When talking to some people who went on this trip, one student Alexia B., Grade 10, said “I’ve never been on a debate trip before so I’m excited to see how debate works, and I want to meet new people”.  

The NESDA tournament was an opportunity for students like Alexia to experience new things and meet people who have similar interests and aspirations as her. Alexia competed in Duet Acting which she said involves “choosing a 5–7-minute scene from a movie, play, or show and performing it for an audience”.  

Another grade 10 student, Julian A., who has attended Speech and Debate trips before, said he was most excited “for the new and exciting topics that we’ll be debating on and exploring the different schools”. He competed in impromptu speaking and debate.  

The Speech and Debate trip helped Alexia learn more about how each event works. She said that “she also got to watch other events, besides Duet Acting, so she now knows what to expect in the future. For example, “watching Impromptu Speaking taught me how to structure a speech and I learnt a few tips on how to make the speech last the full three minutes”. 

“I learned to be more prepared and level heading during the competition,” Julian A said.  

The NESDA tournaments are fantastic opportunities for experienced and non-experienced students to broaden their knowledge on debate.  

After a fun and exciting fall season of Speech and Debate the debaters have made lots of memories and had new experiences that have inspired so many more students to join the winter and spring seasons.