Meet our Alums

I was fourteen when I was first introduced to debating by ISDS and the love of knowledge and debating that the training and experience gave me is still an important part of who I am.

My decision to pursue the social sciences was overwhelmingly inspired by the exposure to issues of gender and foreign policy that debating allowed me to engage with.

When I began debating, I heard a lot of people describe it as my ‘hobby’ but to me debate is so much more than that. It allowed me to discuss several issues that I had never thought to question, let alone see from a wholly new perspective and it also is the reason I grew more eager to always be aware of what was happening in the world around me.

Debating has honed my ability to think and argue critically and taught me to structure both my thoughts and my writing. It has taught me that to passionately voice my opinions on the way things are is perfectly legitimate – and has shaken me out of the passive ways in which I engaged with issues I deemed as ‘political’.

Debate has brought into my life some amazing people, teammates and coaches and pursuing it has been just about the best decision I have ever made.