The URDU debates at the US Military Academy and the University of Toronto

This was a busy weekend for the URDU. We attended two extremely competitive tournaments, one at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, and the other at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.

Nick Heitsch and Anne Chen in front of the mighty Hudson
valley in West Point, NY.

At the West Point tournament policy debaters Anne Cheng and Nick Heitsch finished 3-3 in the Junior Varsity division, barely missing an advance to elimination rounds. As coach Alex Martel observed, "for Anne, in her first year of college debate, and Nick, a novice debater, winning three debates at such a competitive tournament is remarkable!” As in years past, the West Point tournament did not disappoint with their banquet speaker – Colonel Cindy Jebb, Deputy Head of the Department of Social Sciences at the Military Academy, who gave a speech about the importance of community and the source of her optimism about the future: the debaters that attended the prestigious tournament.

Meanwhile, in Canada at the Hart House Intervarsity Debate Tournament, Varsity debaters Sarah Hofmann, Katelyn Offerdahl, Chris Perkins, and Miriam Kohn competed on topics ranging from theories of justice to professional sports to LGBTQ issues. Both teams debating were only one win away from advancing to elimination rounds, another great achievement given the quality of the other teams – from across North America – at the tournament.

From left to right, around the table: Sarah Hofmann, Katelyn
Offerdahl, coach Nina Datlof, and Chris Perkins take a break
from debating to reflect on the tournament and get some
school work done.

All of the debaters appreciated the opportunities they had this weekend to learn from their competitive challenges and look forward to putting those lessons into action at the next tournament!