Sunday, August 3, 2008

World Debate Institute WUDC Session Concludes

From left to right, Champions Mandy Frank & Joshua Miller; special awards Julie Mirse, Morgan Sayre, Kenneth Barnes and Michael Vigeant

The super-intensive five-day WUDC training workshop held at the World Debate Institute at the University of Vermont concluded on Friday. After eight rounds of debate during the week the scores were totaled and the top four teams were invited to a grand final round, and twenty attendees agreed to judge.

The four teams were: 1st government Emily Barkdoll & Ethan Backus of Vermont, 2nd government Joshua Miller & Mandy Frank of Vermont, 1st opposition Lee Richmond & Garret Valdez of Tennessee Tech, 2nd opposition Darius Niknamfard & Scott Crespo of Cornell. After totalling the ranks, it was Joshua Miller & Mandy Frank of Vermont with 53 points, and the next closest was Lee Richmond & Garrett Valdez of Tennessee Tech with 25.

The motion was: This House would put security cameras in the public places of city centers.

Four other awards were handed out, the traditional "hats." After 25 years WDI continues its tradition of awarding a University of Vermont cap to those students who combine enthusiasm, a willingness to help others and improvement during the sessions as voted on by the faculty. The winners were:
Morgan Sayre of Vermont
Kenneth Barnes of Tennessee Tech
Michael Vigeant of Tennessee Tech
Julie Mirse of Tennessee Tech
Congratulations to the Tech students for an outstanding showing.

See the video of the final round at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4953455623210924273