The Foundation University Greyhound Debate made its debut on the national scene on April 7 to 8 at the Makiling Debate Open hosted by the University of the Philippines—Los Baños in Laguna.
Composed of three Foundationites namely: Ivan Christopher Cordevilla (BS Biology), Eloise Logarta (HUMSS), and Mikaela Zayco (HUMSS), the Greyhound debaters survived four elimination rounds, after being faced teams from De La Salle University, UP Baguio, and UPLB. Winning three out of four, the team landed on the 5th spot out of 20 participating teams.
Greyhound Debate was the only Visayan team that emerged in the Top 5 during the national tournament in Laguna. They were also the only team from the Visayas to compete in the tournament. Proceeding to the quarterfinal round, they fell in a close match with DLSU by a total team margin of three speaker points.
Cordevilla, who is class salutatorian and an alumnus of the prestigious Ayala Young Leaders Congress, said, “We were Davids in a crowd of Goliaths during the Makiling Debate Open facing against the best Manila schools. There was also added pressure for our team because we were the only Visayas team competing. Honestly, debating is a tough sport but it makes you discover abilities that you were not even aware about in the first place.”
Greyhound Debate coach and Arts and Sciences faculty Micah Stefan Dagaerag said, “I am just exceedingly proud of them. Considering that we started this debate organization only in October last year, and now they are going toe-to-toe with the country’s best, I am beyond excited. I can’t wait to discover and train more talents this coming school year.”
The MDO is an annual debate tournament utilizing the Asian Parliamentary format, wherein teams of three members each argue on topics given only 30 minutes before each round, covering a wide range of subjects such as politics, economics, law, gender, environmentalism, and culture. (PR)
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});