Students arrive at the National Debate Championship with the goal of making their regions proud

Santo Domingo.- With enthusiasm, high expectations, and the desire to demonstrate their argumentation skills, students from different educational regions of the country are participating in the V National Debate Championship (CND), a competition that brings together young leaders to strengthen critical thinking, communication, and the analysis of topics of national and international interest.

Leury Manuel Feli Feliz, a student from the Barahona Regional 01, stated that his main goal is to win the championship and represent his educational center, the Francisco Amadeus Peña High School, with dignity.

“My expectations are quite high, since we come with a goal and that is to win and take that victory to our region and, above all, to hold our high school up high,” expressed the young man, who is participating in the championship for the first time.

For her part, Nashla Herrera stated that she hopes her team manages to advance as far as possible in the competition and continues to strengthen the skills acquired during their preparation process.

“We want to acquire much more knowledge in debate and public speaking. It is a different experience because we share with many people and continue to develop as debaters,” he/she noted.

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While Christopher Pérez, representative of the San Juan Regional 02, explained that, although he is debuting in the National Championship, he already has experience in regional debate tournaments, so he aspires to overcome the first rounds of the competition.

“I hope, at the very least, to reach the round of 16. I would like topics related to technology or artificial intelligence to appear among the motions, because they are areas I am passionate about,” he indicated.

For her part, the regional technician of the Student Leadership Program of Regional 02 of San Juan, Carmen Alcántara Taveras, highlighted that the championship represents an opportunity for students to demonstrate the competencies developed throughout the entire training process.

He explained that the initiative seeks to strengthen leadership, communication, socialization, and analysis skills regarding national and international issues, preparing young people to face the challenges of an increasingly competitive world.

The V National Debate Championship, organized by the Student Leadership Program of the Dominican Republic (PLE-RD), a dependency of the Ministry of Education (MINERD), brings together representatives from the country’s 18 educational regions in an academic competition that promotes dialogue, argumentation, and the responsible use of the word.

For this edition, held at the Colegio Calasanz, 78 teams are participating, made up of 234 student debaters, in addition to 125 judges and 78 teacher coaches, who will carry out an intense agenda of debates and training activities over several days aimed at strengthening student leadership and critical thinking.