This failure found me at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, after the award ceremony of a HACIA Democracy debate conference. I had never attended an international conference and I was the youngest member of the team, eager to prove myself. The conference began and within the first two sessions I thought I had already won. Sooner than expected, the conference came to an end and the moment of truth arrived, the award ceremony. My chair stepped up to the podium and as the name of the victor fled her lips, a feeling of deep anguish flooded my body: the name wasn’t
This failure found me at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, after the award ceremony of a HACIA Democracy debate conference. I had never attended an international conference and I was the youngest member of the team, eager to prove myself. The conference began and within the first two sessions I thought I had already won. Sooner than expected, the conference came to an end and the moment of truth arrived, the award ceremony. My chair stepped up to the podium and as the name of the victor fled her lips, a feeling of deep anguish flooded my body: the name wasn’t