Monday, March 27, 2017

ISU's Mike Chen Wins Online Debate Tournament.

ISU Bengal Debater Mike Chen has added another first place win to his impressive intercollegiate debate resume.  Chen argued in the final round to a 5-0 victory.

Members of the squad participated in the all-online "Climb the Mountain" debate tournament Saturday. Bengal debaters faced competitors from UW-Bothel, Montana, and Utah State. 

This was the first attempt at an online debate format. Each participant was joined by another debater and a judge in a video chat. With this advance it allows for more competitors from different locations to debate without additional travel. 

"The online tournament is definitely a very new form of conducting debate tournaments and, although it had a few bumps and turns, I'm really glad to have been able participate in it," says Chen. "I'm excited to see where it goes in the future."

In addition to Chen's 1st place win, he was awarded top speaker points by the tournament for the Open Division.  That honor was mirrored by ISU's Sydnee Harris who earned top-honors for speaking points in the Novice Division. Bengal debaters Jack Bradley and Michael Mares received honorable mentions in the speaking points category as well.

"I really enjoyed trying the IPDA debate style," says Harris. "It was a fun new experience debating it online and I was surprised when I found out that I had actually won a speaker award."

Today's tournament was an International Public Debate Association tournament. Unique to the IPDA style is the topic draw, where competitors each "strike" [eliminate] two potential topics from a list of five options until one remains to begin each head-to-head contest.

Congratulations to the Idaho State Squad.

No comments:

Post a Comment