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Communication Professor Trains International Debaters
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Joseph Zompetti, Assistant Professor of Communication, recently spent two weeks as one of 28 international trainers for the 11th annual International Debate Education Association (IDEA) Youth Forum held in Struga, Macedonia. The Forum hosted 38 national teams, representing 23 countries. The teams were involved in four preliminary debates, followed by elimination rounds and culminated in a final round held at the Macedonian Parliament in Skopje Selection of international trainers for the IDEA Forum is extremely competitive.
Dr. Zompetti was also a trainer in Estonia in 2004, and Slovakia in 2002. “It was a great honor to be selected as an international trainer for the Forum,” said Dr. Zompetti. “Working with students and coaches from all over the world was a fantastic experience.”

The Youth Forum featured two different debate tournaments. One tournament was of national teams, on the resolution, Resolved: It is better to focus on a harm reduction strategy than a law enforcement strategy when dealing with drug abuse. The other tournament was of mixed teams, on the resolution: Resolved: That a policy should be adopted to promote global compliance with the Convention on the Rights of a Child.
 “In our Assembly, important and substantive discussions on numerous topics are held on a daily basis,” said Ljupco Jordanovski, the President of Macedonia. “I am particularly glad, however, to be able to see how the young people of the entire world discuss, debate, and propose solutions and visions for such serious questions.”

The Youth Education Forum is an organization that works on increasing and promoting the critical thinking, public and educational debate, democratic values of civil society, protection of youth’s rights (high school and university students) and youth activism in alternative education. The IDEA Youth Forum is the largest academic debate summer camp in the world for students from around the globe. This event has been hosted in many different countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Croatia, Poland, Russia, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria.



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