Joining The Debate Club - One of the Best Things That Happened To Me In High School.

By: Salma Omary.

In 2011 a new teacher came into our classroom in Galilee High School, in Nazareth. She stood there for 10 minutes, and explained about a new “Debate” project at school. Like most people in my school, I had no idea what “Debate” meant, at that time. My classmates and I were curious and wanted to know more about this project, so we went after school hours to see the teacher, and ended up joining the debate club. I joined because I wanted to try something new, little did I know, that I would fall in love with this activity, and become a Debate addict. We were introduced to a new world of learning.

Before joining the Debate club it was really hard for me, to structure my thoughts and ideas properly. I used to struggle with writing essays, and was always afraid of public speaking. In debate classes, I learned how to organize and structure my thoughts and make a clear point. This has helped me not only in debate but also in everyday life. Writing essays and speaking in front of a big audience became less and less scary.

We started meeting every week after school to learn Debate. We would talk about interesting and important topics, practice public speaking, argumentation and refutation, and exercise new ways of delivering speeches. After the few months of training, we decided to participate in an International Debate Forum, “Asia Youth Forum”, in Thailand. During these 2 weeks I got to know a lot of friends from all over Asia. I even heard about countries for the first time in my life, and for the first time I stood in front of judges and gave my first speech in English.

Even though it was a very exciting and scary moment, I felt so happy. During the competition we had to deal with several challenges, such as competing with teams who spoke English as a mother tongue. For us, Palestinians in Israel, English is a third Language. Since we are all Arabic native speakers, and Hebrew is taught in Arabic schools as second language. Teams we were up against, had much more experience than we did, especially in International competitive debating. I remember times when we just wanted to quit, but with the support of coaches and judges we continued and tried our best every time. On the day of the finals, I was granted the “Most improved speaker” award.

Two years later, I participated in another International Debate Youth Forum in Ireland. At some point we skipped a debate round, and just wanted to go home. Once again, we found motivation and support from amazing coaches who believed in us. Thanks to my great team mates, our team made it to the finals. There I was — two days after thinking about quitting — standing in front of a huge audience of great debaters and judges, and delivering a speech, in the International Youth Forum. Even though my team ended up losing that final round, I still felt so happy and satisfied about what I’ve achieved. That experience was empowering on so many levels. I will never forget how I felt that day.

Through Debate, I learned so many things. I got to meet new people that I am still in contact with until now. I was exposed to new cultures and places. Most importantly, I got to know myself better, challenge myself and grow. I was exposed to new narratives, new ways of thinking and communicating. Debate had a huge impact on my life, it has changed the way I look at things, and granted me the tools to become a better student and better person.

About the writer: Salma Omary is a Palestinian from Sandala, in Israel. She is currently a Pre-Medical student, in Heidelberg, Germany.