_________________________PLATFORMS FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2013-2014
T
he Ateneo Debate Union is more than speaking prowess and excellent logic. We are a Union that is geared towards promoting a culture of critical thinking and social awareness. We do this by exciting the youth’s interest in different social issues of the day. We do this by advocating for healthy and educated discourse. By all these efforts, ADU strives to embody the Ignatian values of excellence, spirituality, and citizenship. The Ateneo Debate Union shall seek to achieve and to continuously raise the bar of excellence.
1. Union Debate Education Program
The Union Debate Education Program (UDEP) is the core community service program of the Ateneo Debate Union. It has provided quality debate and public speaking seminars and workshops to various secondary schools and colleges in Zamboanga Peninsula. Our clientele included Zamboanga City high schools like Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Pilar College, Claret School of Zamboanga City, St. Joseph School, Ferndale International School, and Universidad de Zamboanga. We also had clients from outside the city such as Basilan National High School and other schools in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay. Our work in our Debate Education Program not only provided our students with a fundamental grasp and understanding of the artistic science of debating; it also honed their skills in presenting themselves and in thinking critically. We are more than proud to say that our UDEP helped students throughout the years become not only good public speakers but also leaders in their schools and communities, equipped with the skill that is expressing their plans and ideas eloquently and rationally. For the Ateneo Debate Union and for these students, the UDEP emblazons the path for critical thinkers of the city. Through this program, the Union does the other thing that it does best—to embolden the youth to speak up and to speak well. For the following school year, the Ateneo Debate Union is taking the challenge of expanding the arms of our UDEP. This school year shall see the Union striving not only to bring excellent training to clients in Zamboanga City but also to create a stronger clientele base in Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur. The Union is notably the only debate organization in the Peninsula that has an established and formal debate education program. We believe that increasing the breadth of our mission is parallel not only to the Union’s ideals but moreover to the ideals and identity of the Ateneo de Zamboanga whom we shall represent—education beyond the classroom, an education that is mechanized towards societal relevance. UDEP for S.Y.2013-2014 will jumpstart a newer legacy of debate education and community awareness. More intensive promotions are underway for the first semester. We plan to coordinate more closely through personal invites and through the growing UDEP Network with our partner schools. Our members, headed by our Vice President for Debate Education, have planned and are preparing to contact and to even travel to these schools to promote debate. We plan to conduct efficient and effective seminars for our clients by batches so that we could incorporate better a mini-debate tournament. We create our own debate materials, suited for and tailored from the needs and abilities of our students, and we are planning to distribute them free through social media. These efforts have already begun last May 2-5 during the 21st Ateneo Senior Summer Program Debates. We were more than inspired by the positive feedbacks of the participants. PAGE| 19