The Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) student debate team won the 7th annual Qatar University Debate League Championships at a two-day tournament that marks the end of the 2013-2014 debate year in Qatar. The team was also named overall champion for the Qatar Foundation’s Qatar Debate league, which is made up of three tournaments over the year.
Georgetown students Arwa El Sanosi and Sarim Zia won the final round of the tournament, after successfully debating the assigned opposition side for the motion: “This House Believes That Palestinians Should Not Accept Citizenship from Arab States.”
GU-Q students who received high individual speaker rankings include Sarim Zia (2nd place), Arwa Elsanosi (3rd place), and Fahad Al Khater (10th place).Yoonsuk Choi won for Best Speaker Overall and Sheba George won 10th place Best Speaker in the league for the year.
The winning team worked on their oratory skills in different international settings over the past few years, such as through competing at the World Universities Debating Championship held in Germany and the Philippines, and taking part in a debate training camp abroad.
“The Georgetown Debate team decided to focus their summer 2013 training on honing their debating skills by attending the North America Debate Academy at the University of Vermont. This team has really worked together to train new students and also build on their own debate experience,” said Senior Student Development Officer Sara Berhie, who also acts as the Debate Club advisor.
Reflecting on the impact of her university education on the skills required for debate, El Sanosi, a senior majoring in International Politics, said: “A strong debater is someone who can give an argument, analyze it and give an example on the analysis. Our classes at Georgetown teach us how to do all three. But also, debate has a specific structure that helps us write more concise papers, and has a public speaking component that works exceptionally well in school presentations, because we know what it takes to capture people’s attention and how to sound coherent. So the benefits work both ways.”
The Peninsula
