Although registration was a little later this morning to give our students a bit of a lie in, most of the cohort were up at the usual time and preparing for the day and week ahead of them. For lots of students, this meant putting in some extra work on final projects, often with the helpful guidance of our counsellors.
For our debating team, however, the day was a little more special. Having chosen a speaker from amongst them earlier in the week, now it was time to help the chosen student practice and make any last tweaks to their speech. It was great to see the whole team so willing to help even though it wouldn’t be them speaking and it just goes to show what wonderful students we have with us at Jowett.
After a bite to eat for a bit of energy, the students set off for the famous Sheldonian Theatre where the debate was being held.
The motion under discussion was: ‘This house believes the most dangerous place to stay is in your own comfort zone’, and our wonderful guest speaker, Sir Ranulph Fiennes opened the debate with his thoughts. As Ranulph has been heralded as the world’s greatest living explorer for his many daring expeditions across the planet, he was an ideal choice to speak on the subject.
Then it was our students turn to step up to the podium. Though speaking in a foreign language for any extended time can be difficult, our students rose to the challenge wonderfully. They all spoke both thoughtfully and eloquently, contributing excellent points to their side of the debate. No matter who won Best Speaker, every student deserved the round of applause they got, particularly Jowett’s speaker, Emils.
To end the day, our students had the chance to show off their skills in a talent show. There were a range of wonderful acts, all of which thoroughly wowed the counsellors and other students. It seems once again we have an incredibly gifted cohort with us!
There was just time for a quick game of football in the university parks and then it was time for everyone to head to bed ready for another morning of lessons!