August 30, 2022

Health, Health, Health, Social Inclusion and Equity, Peace-Building and Security, Governance, Active Citizenship, Environment, Environment

In 2010, a group of students passionate for discourse and public speaking decided that the art of argumentation should not end within the walls of a debate class. Rather, it should be a campus-wide experience. The Athena Debate Society, formerly known as Andrews Debate Society, was officially established in 2010 and is the official debate organization of Cagayan State University.\r\n Over the years, ADS made consistent efforts in honing students to think critically, be socially involved, and take progressive actions towards the betterment of the university and society. In the last ten years, ADS was able to create programs and organize events to revive the spirit of debate not only in the university, but in the North.\r\nToday, ADS continue to pioneer activities that the organization became part of the mainstream debating community up to the international level. This is seen through multiple yearly installments of activities like Debate on Wheels, Athena Debate Championship, and the Athena Inter-Varsity Invitationals Debate.\r\nBut the goals of ADS do not stop there. The true success of an organization is not measured exclusively by the activities it pioneers, but by the growth of its members’ skillset in the organization. This sparked the creation of programs catered towards promoting social discernment and resources to help first-time debaters navigate their way in the community. This is seen in activities like “Debunking with ADS”, “Matter-of-Fact”, and many more programs to be released soon.\r\n