European Youth Debating Competition winners announced
A London schoolgirl has taken her place amongst the ten finalists of the European Youth Debating Competition.
Cecily Ward, of the Prendergast School in Lewisham, reached the awards of the Competiion organised by PlasticsEurope and the European Petrochemical Association.
From over 400 students who took part in the 2017 (EYDC), ten students were selected as the winners of the competition by a group of jurors selected amongst representatives of industry, media, NGO’s, international organization, lecturers, experts, members of the EPCA Board of Directors, YETT (Young EPCA Think Tank) and PlasticsEurope.
The award ceremony took place in Berlin, Germany, on 3rd of October 2017 during the 51st EPCA Annual Meeting, the largest gathering of the global chemical business community in Europe.
The students had debated the theme: ‘People, Planet, Profit in the Digital age: With or without petrochemistry and plastics?’
The EYDC was organised in seven European countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Britain, between May and September 2017. Following the National Finals, a passionate debate took place in Berlin amongst the national winners at the European Finals.
During the closing ceremony, Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the UN and Tom Crotty, Director of INEOS Group and President of EPCA presented the prizes to the top five winners of the EYDC 2017: Ilsu Ari, Lycée International des Pontonniers, Strasbourg, France; Daniel Ternes, Bischöfliches Cusanus Gymnasium, Koblenz, Germany; Kalina Spławska, XIV LO im. Stanisława Staszica, Warsaw, Poland; Ahlam Ouladali, Institut F. Vidal i Barraquer, Tarragona, Spain, and Nick Krüger, Internationale Deutsche Schule, Paris, France.
The remaining winners were Henning Locher, Schlossgymnasium, Mainz, Germany; Arnav Aggarwal, Notre-Dame International High School, Verneuil-sur-Seine, France; Anne Rother, Christian-Rohlfs-Gymnasium, Hagen, Germany; Noah Windemuth-Rotteveel, British School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Cecily Ward, Prendergast School, London, UK.
Caroline Ciuciu, CEO of EPCA, said: “This competition is a unique opportunity for students of a generation of digital natives to further explore the links between our society’s development, sciences and the petrochemical industry. In addition, in a fast changing and sometimes divisive environment, this debating competition offers youngsters the chance to interact with each other regardless of gender, nationality and culture. Finally, for us as an industry, the EYDC is an excellent initiative to connect with a new generation, listen and learn about their views as well as their visions of our future. In a nutshell, it is a way to connect, listen, learn, collaborate for both the youngsters and our industry.”
Karl H. Foerster, Executive Director of PlasticsEurope added: “This initiative was launched to promote STEM education and to show to a young generation the importance of science. Education in these fields are of crucial importance for the future of our industry and the overall competitiveness of the European Union.”