Two QE debaters have been asked to attend future international sessions of a prestigious debating competition.
School Captain Norbert Sobolak and fellow Year 13 pupil Sahil Handa received the request from the lead juror after performing strongly in the four-day national final of the European Youth Parliament competition in Liverpool.
The pair were members of the nine-strong Year 12 team who took part in the final with around 130 delegates from other schools. The QE team had reached this stage by overcoming strong opposition in the regional final.
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In the national final, each student delegate from every school was put in a committee group with 9-11 other students from other schools. This group then represented one committee of the EU Parliament, such as the Committee for Civil Liberties and Justice or that for Foreign Affairs.
On arrival, the students took part in a series of activities and games to get to know their new team mates. Then on the evening of the first day, each team represented a country at the Eurovillage Food Fair, while auditions also took place for the Euroconcert taking place the following evening.
On the first full day, pupils spent the time engaging in committee work, which was centred around writing resolutions on European affairs to do with their committee.
Pupils attended the EYP General Assembly on the following day, where they defended and debated the resolutions they had spent the previous day preparing.
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Two private schools – Howell’s School and Warwick School – were selected to represent the UK at an international session of EYP in Belfast and Dublin next year.
Although the team were disappointed not to reach the international session, they enjoyed taking part in the competition and gaining a flavour of university life through staying at the Liverpool Hope University campus.
Besides Sahil and Norbert, the QE team comprised Ali Humayun, Calum Johnson, Jun Ming Shik, Raj Singh, Pranesh Varadarajan, Jason Yau and Ryun Pang.