{"id":1278,"date":"2026-04-07T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2026-04-01T22:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:25:44","slug":"junior-debate-forum-a-student-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/2026\/04\/07\/junior-debate-forum-a-student-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior Debate Forum \u2013 A Student Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoEach year, we host two Debate Forum events for our junior and senior students in which they debate for and against motions that focus on the ethos of an ETB school (excellence in education, care, equality, community, and respect). There are three competitions within, the main one being the Cup competition, along with a Plate and Rose Bowl competition. Last November (2025), students from our Milford school, Mulroy College, won our Junior Debate Forum<\/a>. In this month\u2019s blog, two of the team members, Mick and \u00c9abha, tell us about their experience and provide some tips for future debaters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hello all, this is Mick and \u00c9abha, and we were part of the winning team from the Donegal ETB Junior Debate Forum <\/em>2025; sadly, our teammate Alia can’t join us in writing this. We\u2019re here to write about our experience with the Debate Forum and hopefully encourage others to join in the future!<\/p>\n

How we got involved in debating<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we were in our second year, we participated in the first Donegal ETB Junior Debate Forum<\/em>. Our team was formed very late into preparation, and we had little time to write out our speeches. We weren\u2019t really expecting to do well, but ended up in the semi-final of the Cup (the BIG one). However, we lost it. Despite that fact, we were still very happy with the outcome and enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n

How we got prepared for the Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thankfully, unlike last year, we were made aware of the Forum much earlier, which gave us more time to think about the four topics we had to debate and how we interpreted them. We used a variety of methods to help us with our speeches and questions, such as reading articles, listening to podcasts about the topics, reading our speeches out to our family and friends, the senior students who previously took part in the Debate Forum,<\/em> and our amazing teacher, Ms Bonner, and getting their feedback on what we had done so far. This, as well as being a year older, made us more confident in our speeches, arguments, and debating skills.<\/p>\n

The Debate Forum Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the day, we took a bus up to the Radisson Blu Letterkenny. Inside were we, the senior students, Ms Bonner, and some younger students who were interested in debating. Upon arriving, we took our seats in the reception and waited as the organiser of the event made a speech and told us how the day would go. Soon after, we began our first debate.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, we were nervous and made a few stumbles, but we soon picked up speed and won. In the second debate, we and another College were extremely close. We think it was probably the closest debate out of all of them, purely because it seemed like we were debating for the same thing. But we managed to come through and win that too.<\/p>\n

\"Group
Junior Debate Forum 2025 Cup Winners, Mulroy College\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now in the semi-finals, we were in the place where we had lost a year ago.\u00a0 Despite the fact that we lost last year, we were more prepared and confident in ourselves and prevailed. After watching the other semi-final take place, we stood up and took our seats at the table for the final. Errigal College was the team we were against for the final, and they were truly amazing. It was such a close debate, each team giving it our all, and at some points, it seemed like we would lose, but after all that, we did it: we won the Cup (the BIG one)!<\/p>\n

The other teams<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the debates, we were constantly impressed by how skilful the other teams were, winning each debate, even in the early stages. You could tell how much effort they put into their speeches and the competition; everyone was so focused and prepared; it was so proficient. As we waited for the two qualifying teams to complete their debate, we were very impressed by the other two teams’ debating skills. As Mick and Alia were coming up with more questions to ask the other team in the final debate, I (\u00c9abha) was watching the semi-finalists’ debate. When Mick and Alia returned, Mick asked me, \u201cAre we cooked?\u201d and I responded, funnily enough, \u201cSo cooked\u201d. And more importantly, we were happy to see how kind the other teams were, too. It was such a nice and welcoming environment to be in; people from different schools were having conversations and making genuine connections with each other. We can\u2019t wait to participate again in the Senior Debate Forum.<\/p>\n

Why we think others should participate in the future<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being part of the debating competition was an amazing experience, and definitely something we are planning to continue to do, and something to look forward to next year. It may seem daunting to start, but once you begin, it is extremely fun. Because of the friendly environment, you do not need to be worried about messing up, tripping over your words, or shaking as you give a speech. It happens to everyone, including us. Everyone was so kind, from the other teammates, the judges, and the staff and teachers who were helping with the event. We\u2019d highly recommend anyone to join the Debate Forum as it’s such a great experience, it helps with your confidence, with public speaking, and it looks great on your CV!! Thank you for reading. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year, we host two Debate Forum events for our junior and senior students in which they debate for and against motions that focus on the ethos of an ETB school (excellence in education, care, equality, community, and respect). There are three competitions within, the main one being the Cup competition, along with a Plate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,13,8],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donegaletb.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}