The Pan-American Pre-University Debate League, organised for the sixth time by the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO, is entering its final stage this week. Once the various national competitions to decide which team will represent each country have been completed, the debates between nations will begin.
The National Leagues kicked off in Latin America with 450 students from 15 countries and 86 teams, who first completed a training course on the fundamentals of debating and then defended positions for and against the motion ‘Should governments invest more in public infrastructure, even if this means raising taxes?’
The national winners will have the opportunity to represent their countries, defending both sides of the following question: ‘Should Latin American countries have a common policy to address the social and economic problems of the region?’
The winners who will have the opportunity to represent their respective countries in the sixth edition of the League have now been announced. Representing North America and the Caribbean is the Colegio Preparatoria Crismar in Mexico, while the Politécnico Profesor Raúl Horacio Cairo was the winner in the Dominican Republic.
Central America will be represented by the Colegio Bautista Internacional de San Salvador, as well as the Colegio Teresiano from Nicaragua, the Macris School team from Honduras, the Colegio Santa Teresa from Costa Rica, the Colegio La Preparatoria from Guatemala and the Colegio Internacional del Caribe from Panama.
South America will be represented by the Innova Schools College from Peru, the Domingo Savio College from Bolivia, the Salesiano Santo Domingo Savio College from Colombia, the Nuestra Señora de la Paz College from Venezuela, the Andes Innova College from Ecuador, the Pedro de Valdivia Peñalolén ISP College from Chile, and the Intelligence Development Centre College from Paraguay.
The VI Pan-American Pre-University Debate League offers prizes for the winning team, the runner-up and the best speaker in the competition. These awards range from promotional packs from UNEATLANTICO to gift vouchers and full funding for the cost of reserving a place to study a degree at the European University of the Atlantic (360 euros).