After Lots of California Competition, the URDU Prepares for Spring

The Debate Union returned from Los Angeles, California this past weekend. After two debate tournaments over a week – at the University of Southern California and California State University-Fullerton – we look ahead to more competition in the spring.

We managed to bring home some trophies too: Fayo Abdullahi was 3rd speaker and Emmani Karra was 5th speaker in the novice division at Fullerton! We are very proud of these two, who only very recently started debating!

Aside from the rigorous debating and competitive success, we found time to pick oranges, find George Eastman’s star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and explore beautiful Los Angeles, California.  

We pause to honor UR legend George Eastman on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Pictured, from left: Elaine Wang, Salva Ken, Emoni Tedder, and Fayo Abdullahi.

Now we look ahead to much more travel in the spring semester. Here’s a quick preview: we’ll debate in several different US states and three different countries; we’ll travel to two different policy national championships, in Binghamton, New York and Wichita, Kansas, respectively; for BP we’ll travel to Miami, Florida for the Pan American Championship tournament, and to Anchorage, Alaska for the United States Universities Debating Championship tournament. We’ll also be sending teams to debate in Budapest, Hungary and Belgrade, Serbia in the coming weeks.

So, we’re working hard to have even more victory in the months ahead – Go Yellowjacket debate!

The URDU California swing crew poses in the CSU-Fullerton orange grove. Pictured, from left: Assistant Director Gordie Miller, Salva Ken, Elaine Wang, Fayo Abdullahi, Emoni Tedder, Director Brady Fletcher, Coach Alex Martel, and Coach Nina Datlof.