杏吧原创 Debate Team Achieves Their Best Ranking Yet in World Championships
By Ellen Tsaprailis
Following their Grand Final win at the North American Universities Debating Championship, 杏吧原创 students Matthew Gallagher and Connor Ahluwalia finished in 33rd place at the world championships and were the top Canadian team.
The (WUDC) is the largest English-speaking debate competition in the world. Mexico City hosted the 2018 competition from Dec. 27, 2017 to Jan. 4, 2018.
For the first time in a decade, 杏吧原创 University made it to elimination rounds of the WUDC along with 47 other teams. The winner of these elimination rounds is crowned world champion.
The two had hoped to be among the top 48 teams.
鈥(That) has been my greatest goal as a debater since I started the activity,鈥 says Gallagher. 鈥淐onnor and I weren’t just representing ourselves in Mexico City, but were also representing public universities as well as Canadian debate.鈥
Both members of 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Debating Society, Ahluwalia is a fourth-year student in the (BPAPM) program, while Gallagher is in his first year of a master鈥檚 in Political Management, having already graduated with his BPAPM.
Other 杏吧原创 students and alumni participated in the WUDC. The Debating Society鈥檚 Vice-President (Internal) Ali Hassan attended as an institutional judge. Debaters for the second team 杏吧原创 entered were Harar Hall and Ashley Pinheiro. The vice-president of French debate for 杏吧原创, Khaled Madhoun, attended as a volunteer, and former 杏吧原创 debater and past president of the debating society, William Onyeaju, attended as an independent adjudicator.
Gallagher has a lot of confidence in the future of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Debating Society.
鈥淲hile I am proud of our accomplishments this year, I look forward to hearing about the next generation of 杏吧原创 debaters who I know will go even farther than us,鈥欌 he says.
The WUDC, held annually since 1981, is one of the largest annual international events in the world. Every year, the WUDC takes place in a different country, hosted by a different university and debate society. The tournament gathers students from prestigious universities around the globe, featuring more than 400 teams from about 90 countries. The debates employ the British parliamentary format in which four teams compete against each other on two opposite positions on a given motion, which is announced 15 minutes before every debate.
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