A College Team won the ACS Debates Open 2019

Over the weekend of April 13 and 14 the American College of Sofia hosted another edition of the ACS Debates Open. Nora Antova of the 11th grade reporting:

The annual ACS Debates Open returned this year with more participants than ever. Thirteen teams from all over the country took part, including the Bulgarian National Debates team which features two ACSers. Former Club President and ACS alumna Yoanna Valova was Chief Judge of the competition.

After 5 exciting rounds and a semi-final, two ACS teams qualified for the final round. The topic they debated was “This House Believes That: NATO Enhanced Forward Presence is doing more harm than good.” The team defending this statement included Aneli Draginova of 9th grade, Alek Selveliev of 8th grade and Petya Nenova of 10th grade. Tenth graders Teo Baltov, Viktoria Papazova and Zhivko Stankov argued the opposing view, with Zhivko earning third-best speaker. Following a long and beneficial discussion, the excellent judges’ panel awarded victory to the Opposition which is a first triumph for ACS at this competition over several years.

The ACS Debates Open is one of the few competitions in Bulgaria which take place in the format “World Schools Debate” in English. We, the organizers of the competition – Kristiya Navushtanova, Nora Antova and Zachary Nickolaev are very proud with the high level of this year’s competition.

“ACS Debates Open was an exciting and very memorable experience. During the competition I stood up against some of the best teams in the country and obtained feedback from high-class judges, which helped me to learn much about the aspects I need to improve going forward. At the same time, this was a very positive and social experience, as I met new people and we discussed not only topics of the debates, but also from life.” – Harry Dikov, ninth grader and ACS Debates Club member.