Behind the stage lights: How students learned to trust their voices with Doha Debates
<p>Doha, Qatar: During high school years in Model United Nations, Dahlia Al-Ansari learned to argue on behalf of a country she was assigned to represent. But when Doha Debates invited her to join a town hall debate in Toronto this July, she faced an unfamiliar challenge: sharing her own beliefs about a timely issue.</p> <p>An 18-year-old biological sciences student at Carnegie Mellon University…
Doha, Qatar – In high school Model United Nations, Dahlia Al-Ansari honed her skills in arguing on behalf of a randomly assigned country. When Doha Debates invited her to participate in a town hall debate in Toronto in July, she faced a new challenge: presenting her own opinions on a current issue. Al-Ansari, an 18-year-old biological sciences student at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, discovered that she would be thinking critically, expressing her own viewpoints, and being open to diverse perspectives, rather than defending a predetermined position.
This shift was a valuable learning experience for her, showing the importance of speaking up for herself. Among 20 students from Qatar, Canada, and Mexico who took part in the debate titled "Football fandom: Community or commodity?", Al-Ansari learned to navigate unfamiliar territory and trust her own voice amid differing viewpoints.
Written by urgent.news from The Peninsula Qatar's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
