Some background information/ fun facts.
The Trinity Philosophical Society is the world’s oldest debating society and largest society in Trinity College Dublin, with over 10,000 members. It was founded in 1683.
What did I learn.
During the week that I was sent out for the “Phil” week, I learned a lot of different things about debating. I learnt about the different teams (opening government, closing proposition, opening opposition, closing opposition etc), we also learned what makes a good debate.
What did I do.
The first day that I went in, we just introduced ourselves and told people about ourselves, you know the usual. Then we started off the week with some ice breakers. For example, we did a walking debate. A few of the topics were “should influencers be banned from advertising medical products”, “should the Gardaí be armed” and “is the death penalty moral”.
During the rest of the week, we did other stuff like we drew up and designed posters for advertising debating competitions. We learned how to edit and Photoshop for the posters and we took pictures using their cameras.
Conclusion.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the week. I made a group of friends that I still interact with today. I found out a few bits and bobs of the other societies in Trinity and how to get in. I would highly recommend this week for anyone who’s interested in debating or even just public speaking.
Bethany Osemede.