ACS Students Excel in College-Level Debate Tournament

Four ACS students took part in the NBU Open debate tournament on June 7 at New Bulgarian University in Sofia. Kristiya Navushtanova and her teammate Gabriela Ivanova (8th grade), along with Joanna Dimitrova (10th grade) and Nikola Michaylov (9th grade), competed entirely against college students from several universities in Sofia.

Despite being matched against much older students and competing in a brand new debating style--British Parliamentary--which they had never participated in before, both ACS teams performed exceptionally well. Joanna and Nikola impressively reached the final round of the tournament. Gaby and Krissy finished just behind them, narrowly missing out on the final. Judges, spectators, and fellow competitors alike praised the efforts of 8th graders Gaby and Krissy, who competed on the same level as (and in some cases better than) the college participants.

Nikolay Neykov from the non-profit group Sofia Debate Association and judge at the NBU Open, commented, "It's astonishing and really encouraging that there are such promising young debaters as Kristiya and Gabriela and of course Nikola and Joanna. Being 8th and 10th grade respectively, showing such level of analysis, maturity and knowledge and holding their own against much older opposition speaks volume for them. With Nikola and Joanna breaking to the final and Kristiya and Gabriela being on equal points with them, just slightly missing the final, we can easily jump to the conclusion that there is bright future ahead of the debate club in the ACS."

Speech and debate club advisors Mr. Adam Saligman and Mr. Scott Bleiweis supported the ACS teams at the tournament.

Congratulations to Joanna, Nikola, Krissy and Gaby on a job well done!

by Scott Bleiweis