AHS Debaters bag multiple awards at Fast Forward championship
On October 5,6, and 13, the Ateneo de Manila High School debaters competed at Fast Forward 2013, a debate boot camp and tournament hosted by the UP Diliman Debate Society in preparation for the upcoming national championship in November. The AHS Debaters won & bagged several awards, and set a few new records along the way. Fast Forward, being a debate camp meant for learning, allowed high school students to team up with students from different high schools. While most Ateneo Debaters competed with their teammates, a few Ateneans competed with their friends from other high schools. Nearly 50 teams or 100 high school students competed in the three day event.
Team “Physical Education,” comprised of Isaac Lee (4D) and his friend from La Salle Greenhills, Andrew Escay, won the Grand Final, debating the topic “This house believes that Malala should have won the Nobel Prize.” The team won on a 3-2 Split, with Second Place overall going to Team “Malakas at Mas Malakas,” comprised of AHS junior France Santos (3A) and Jazmin Jabines of PAREF Woodrose School. The Third Place team also had one Atenean in it, Miguel Guerrero (3A), whose partner was Ms. Annika Bautista from Miriam College High School.
Team “Barney And Friend III,” comprised of Miguel Ventura (4A) and Rafa Lapira (3A), and Team “Fish,” comprised of Martin Abis (4B) and Ms. Cathy Cano of PAREF Woodrose School, reached the semifinals of the tournament. Meanwhile, several other AHS Debaters broke into the quarterfinals. These were Team “Marshall And Ted” (Chino Mendiola of 3B and Mon Asuncion of 3G), Team “AHS The Athletes” (Manuel Ng of 2O and Luigi Alcaneses of 1A), Team Discourse (Renz Reyes of 1A and Carlos Tiu of 1A), Team “Monash A” (Ervin Grana of 1D and Paulo Valencia of 1H), and Team “Beast” (Red Nadela of 1A and Nicky Solis of 1B).
This means that an amazing 10 of 16 breaking teams had at least one Ateneo Debater included—a record for Fast Forward in its 7 year history.
The debaters bagged several individual awards as well, including comprising half of the Ten Best Speakers of the tournament list. For the 2nd straight year, Miguel Ventura was named 1st Best Speaker of Fast Forward, while France Santos and Miguel Guerrero tied for 3rd Best Speaker, and Rafa Lapira and Martin Abis tied for 7th Best Speaker.
The Ateneo Debaters would like to thank their Moderator Mrs. Fe U. De Jesus of the English Department, and their coaches Mr. Mahar Mangahas, Mr. Henry Fernando, Mr. Bas Claudio, Mr. Nick Fortuna, and Ms. Inah Robles for helping them prepare for the tournament. The team continues to train and push themselves to their best for the upcoming Philippine Schools Debate Championship (PSDC) in November.
