What have we done?

AES’s activities have had the purpose to initiate a new generation of young persons in academic debating and to improve on argumentation and style for advanced debaters.

Concerning debating programs, AES has focused a lot on developing the World Schools style of debating through participation at international competitions, organizing several events aimed at the development and better understanding of this format, and also by benefitting from international trainers’ expertise ( Jonathan Bailey, John Wickham and Lewis Eckerslike to name a few).

Without a doubt, the greatest achievement of AES is organizing the first international debate tournament in Romania on the World Schools debating format, entitled “Fiat! Debate”. The competition has already had six editions, where we had debaters and trainers coming in from the United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, Republic of Moldova , Macedonia, Slovakia and Zimbabwe. We wish that “Fiat Debate!”, the first and oldest international debate tournament in Romania would grow more and more in the following years and that we will be able to host as many foreign teams as we can. Following the same direction, AES’s trainers are open to any invitation coming from Romanian debate clubs that wish to learn this format.

At the beginning of 2004, the AES debating club has been invited by His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania of Hohenzollern Veringen to initiate a public debate at the Elisabeth Palace, regarding  “Society and Youth”, after which Royal Family members have been impressed by the qualities of the participants, which led to futhter meetings and dialogue between us.

Beginning with March 2004, AES has initiated a campaign to promote debate in the Prahova county, organizing public debates in the most important high schools and institutions from Prahova. Afterwards, AES has collaborated with ARDOR (Romanian Association for Debate, Oratory and Rhetoric )  to promote debating in Bucharest’s major high schools, including “St Sava” National College, “Mihai Viteazul” National College, “Tudor Vianu” High School, “Iulia Hasdeu” High School and “ Stefan Odobleja” High School.

Moreover, surpassing the debating and competitional sphere, AES is very active in the local community, receiving a lot of invitations from the municipality and the business community from Prahova to participate to several activities concerning themes such as intercultural exchanges and implication in decision-making mechanisms.

Local, regional and national competitions

• 6^th-7^th January 2007 – Beginner’s tournament
• 26^th of March 2007 – Mixed tournament
• 18^th-19^th of August 2007 – AES Regional Tournament
• 10^th-14^th of September 2007 – Karl Popper National Tournament
• 5^th-6^th of January 2008 – “Friends through Debate” Tournament
• February 2008 – Regional and National Public Speaking Tournament – 1^st and 2^nd places in speakers’ rankings
• August 2008 – AES Regional Tournament
• August – September 2008 – Karl Popper National Debate Forum, Slanic Moldova and Mamaia – 2^nd place in teams’ ranking; 2^nd and 3^rd places in speakers’ ranking
• December 2008 – “Santa’s workshop” Tournament, Ploiesti
• February 2009 – “Open Debate” Tournament, Bucharest
• 7^th-8^th of March 2009 – National Strategy Debate Tournament, Bucharest – 3^rd place in speakers’ and teams’ rankings
• 14^th-15^th of March 2009 – “Open Debate” Tournament, Sf. Gheorghe
• August 2009 – AES Regional Tournament
• September 2009 – Karl Popper National Debate Forum, Sf. Gheorghe – 1^st place in speakers’ ranking; 2^nd and 3^rd place in teams’ ranking
• December 2009 – “Today’s beginners, tomorrow’s champions” Tournament
• May 2010 – “Timisoara Open” Tournament – 3^rd place in teams’ ranking, 1^st place in speakers’ ranking
• September 2010 – World Schools National Debate Forum – 1^st place in in speakers’ ranking
• September 2011 – World Schools National Debate Forum – 1^st place in teams’ ranking

International Competitions

• 12-15^th April 2007- International Debate Weekend, Ljutomer, Slovenia- 3^rd place, team rankings
• 28^th April- 2^nd of May 2007- “FIAT! Debate” International World Schools Tournament
• 18-20^th May 2007- WSDC, Seoul, South Korea- 3 of 5 members of the National Team are from AES
• 22^nd July- 5^th August- IDEA Youth Forum, Czech Republic- 2^nd place, infividual rankings and “Outstanding performance” award at Debating development competition. National Team Coach is from AES
• 3-8^th February 2008- Heart of Europe, Olomouc, Czech Republic 2^nd and 4^th place, team rankings
• 28^th April- 2^nd of May 2008- ”FIAT! Debate” International World Schools Tournament
• 23^rd July-5^th August 2008- IDEA Youth Forum Bulgaria, Semifinalists. 2 of 3 members and the National Team Coach are from AES
• 5^th-15^th September 2008- WSDC, United States- 3 of 5 members of the National Team are from AES
• 23^rd July- 5^th August 2009- IDEA Youth Forum, Bosnia and Herzegovina- 2 of 3 members of the National Team and Team Coach are from AES. Team lost in Semi Finals.
• 4^th-18^th February 2010- WSDC Doha, Qatar. The Romanian Team was ranked 2^nd on EFL rankings. One member was from AES.
• May 2010- ”FIAT! Debate” International World Schools Tournament
• 22^nd of July- 5^th August 2010- IDEA Youth Forum, Holland
• May 2011- ”FIAT! Debate” International World Schools Tournament
• July 2011- HOE 2011, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Two teams were from AES . Team AES 1 lost in quarters.
• August 2011- IDEA Youth Forum, Turkey. AES team lost in quarters.
• January 2012- WSDC 2012, South Africa. One team member was from AES.

Other Activities:

• Bookworms’ March – an event that reunites over 150 students from “ Mihai Viteazul “ National College and “Ion Luca Caragiale” National College, to promote performance and team spirit.
• Silence March- event aimed at commemorating the victims at the nuclear accident at Cernobil and human impact over the environment.
• Public debates organized in educational events coordinated by the Prahova County Council and Ploiesti City Hall

Furthermore, AES facilitates and encourages its members to enter volunteering programs in other organizations, such as:

• EDUCATIVA, through Romanian International University Fair, where AES brings approximately 20 volunteers at each edition
• Transfusion Centre, Prahova, where AES members run a campaign to encourage blood donations in Prahova County.