New Shropshire student wins silver medal in debating championship
A student who only joined a Shropshire college in September has won a silver medal from the Indonesian National Debating Championships.
Nathan Tedjakusuma, 16, is now looking forward to debating for Acton Burnell-based Concord College.
Prior to joining Concord as a 6.1 student, he represented his Indonesian school in the provincial round of the championships which are a World Schools Debating competition.
He was ranked as the top speaker and selected for the provincial team which trained together five times a week in preparation for the national finals.
When Nathan joined Concord College it looked as though he might have to give up his place in the team.
But with the help of board staff at the college – and understanding from his team mates in Indonesia – he was able to continue training once a week.
The national finals were held over three days and Nathan had to be awake and ready at 2am to link up remotely with his team mates.
“I really didn’t feel at my best for the first two days, but when we got to the knock-out stages I knew I could put in my best performance,” he said.
One of the college’s assistant boarding parents helped to supervise Nathan’s nocturnal debating which he did from Concord’s main hall.
Boarding parent Kevin Bates said: “Nathan worked really hard throughout the week and his commitment to the competition was clear to see.
“This was despite him having to enter through the early hours of the morning.
“I was witness to some of the debating going on and I can say that Nathan gave his all to the challenge.”
In the final Nathan had just 30 minutes to prepare an eight minute speech arguing against the motion “This house believes that the Indonesian Government should use CCTs to replace the traditional welfare system.”
