Debate Team Triumphs in Regional Competition

Published: January 31, 2013

The UW Bothell debate team recorded several victories at a regional competition at Western Washington University January 26-27. More than 850 debaters from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska were in attendance.

At the Western Washington tournament, UW Bothell Speech and Debate won first place in Junior Division National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA).
This is amazing work,” said debate coach Denise Vaughn. “We compete with every school in our region, from the largest to the smallest. This is an outstanding accomplishment for our second year of the program.”

With just one exception, all of the members of the UW Bothell debate team are in their first year of debate. “Our students win because of their ability to engage in critical thinking and discussion of current events under time restrictions,” Vaughn says. “They are competing with students who have four years of high school and one or two years in college, and our students are defeating those teams Our students are an amazing representation of the skills they are taught at UW Bothell and the support they see here on campus.”

Congratulations to:

Jake Landsberg (Business Program) and Matthew Bennett (Engineering program) for coming in 1st in Junior NPDA!

Mark Gevaert (MCS Program) and Eric Weinberger (MCS Program) for Third Place Novice NPDA Debate.

Najat Khidir (IAS Program) and Alton Robert (IAS Program) 4th Place, Novice NPDA Debate. Alton had never seen a debate round before this tournament and just joined the program about 10 days before competition!

Zachary Reshovsky, 5th place in Junior Extemporaneous speaking.

Denise Vaughan
UW Bothell Debate Coach