Canberra College student-debater Egshiglen’s team ranks third at World Championship

Society
en_amarsaikhan@montsame.mn
2016-08-07 19:48:32

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A Canberra College debating star has returned to Australia after helping the country reach third at the world championships in Germany.

Egshiglen "Eggy" Chuluunhuu and the rest of the Australian debating team ranked third, behind Canada and England, at the World School Debating Championship in Stuttgart.

Canberra College year 12 student, Egshiglen Chuluunhuu, has returned from the World School Debating Championship in Germany where Australia placed third. Photo: Graham Tidy

Fifty-six countries registered for the competition, with Australia making it all the way to the semi-finals and continuing a history of strong performances at the debating championships.

Eggy said the journey offered her access to even broader perspectives than she regularly discovered during debating.

She said discussing topics such as United States foreign policy under President Barack Obama and whether or not a country's history classes should have a nationalist perspective was enlightening.

"It was great meeting other people from other countries that genuinely had different perspectives to you," she said.

"I was able to have these genuinely cool conversations, whether it was about Obama's foreign policy or perhaps Beyonce's new album, that was the best part of the experience."

Spending time with teammates was another important part of the championship, with little time to train together before taking to the stage.

Eggy said the Australian team members had bonded as friends during their time in Germany, despite having come together from different parts of the country.

The students also spent an evening exhibiting Tim Tams and Vegemite to their competitors, while learning about other countries at an international exchange fair.

Eggy plans to join her university's debating team when she graduates from college, but in the meantime would like to mentor and help train other aspiring debaters in the craft.

First, she needs to complete her International Baccalaureate and ACT Senior Secondary Certificate, while continuing her work with the college's Interact Club and the Red Cross.

"All I could feel towards the end of the tournament was immense gratitude for everyone who put effort into getting me that far and it gave me an enhanced feeling of wanting to help other people get into debating," she said.

"I definitely want to do training for anyone else who would like to get involved.", reports Canberra Times.