ES
The 2nd ‘Nicolás Salmerón’ Oratory Festival took place the past 2 April, a project that aims to improve young people’s ability to debate and speak in public. This second edition dealt with the subject of Hispanosphere, and twenty-two schools from Spain, France and Morocco took part.
The first phase took place online on 22 March at the SEK-Alborán ‘Nicolás Salmerón’ debate club, while the second phase, held in person, took place on 2 April at the Camilo José Cela University Almagro Campus.
A virtual environment that facilitated access to eight Teams rooms was set up for the first phase that was streamed live. In addition, eight speakers were selected to take part in the final in Madrid. The participants themselves acted as judges to decide who passed the first round. The success of this digital phase was thanks to the SEK-Alborán TAC coordinator Francisco Tejeira, computer technician Ismael Parrilla and the volunteer students from SEK-Alborán itself.
The following students competed in an outstanding final round: Ignacio Borallo, Miguel Prieto, Paloma Amezcua, Pablo del Castillo, Beatriz Pérez, Arturo Alberto Aguilar, Lucila Cacho and Martina Pellegrini, from Colegio Buen Pastor in Sevilla, SEK International School Atlántico, Centro Educativo Arangoya in Bilbao and SEK International School Alborán.
In addition, the event was attended by Antonio Garrigues Walker, Chairman of the Garrigues Foundation, Ernesto Pérez Zúñiga, deputy director of Culture of the Cervantes Institute, Eva Garcia Montero, Dean of Communications and Humanities at Camilo José Cela University and Javier Presol Castillo, director of the Felipe Segovia Foundation.
All the participants received different prizes such as iPads, books and the UCJC debate judges course. The winner was Martina Pellegrini, from Colegio Buen Pastor, obtaining these awards and a full scholarship to study the first year of a degree at Camilo José Cela University.
The event was possible thanks to the efforts of the Felipe Segovia Foundation, Camilo José Cela University, Cervantes Institute, Eduarda Justo Foundation, Sanchez Barranco Consultores and Big Mat.
This project has been possible thanks to the organisational work of Miguel Casanova, a year 2 Baccalaureate student from SEK-Alborán, who acted as general director of the event; Andrey Parrilla, also a SEK-Alborán student in year 1 of the Diploma Programme, who acted as deputy director of the event and Javier-Eladio Guzmán, a teacher at the same school and head of the ‘Nicolás Salmerón’ debate club. All three were helped by the Felipe Segovia Foundation, Camilo José Cela University, Cervantes Institute, Eduarda Justo Foundation, Sanchez Barranco Consultores and Big Mat.
The third edition of the Nicolás Salmerón Oratory Festival will take place next year, with a first phase on Monday, 6 March, 2023, and the final will be held on Friday, 24 March, 2023.
