NYU Parliamentary Debate Union

Today, our spotlight is on our VP Finance Susan Zhang, from Beijing, China. Susan is in her first year of individual study, concentrating on math, economics and philosophy. Debate aside, she watches musicals, and plays violin and badminton.

Why do you debate?
I enjoy debate because it is illuminating and exciting. I grow through discussing various motions, listening to distinctive perspectives, and stating my own arguments. Not only can I gain a sense of achievement through writing my cases with the topics I’m interested in, but also I can receive surprise and stimulation hearing other’s cases. In addition, as teamwork, debate requires cooperation, and I feel so lucky working with my teammates. I love our team, and this will always be the reason why I joined the debate.

If you could time travel to any era, past or future, when would you go and why?
I want to travel to the future because I’m curious about where the rapid development of technology like AI will lead us to. Also, I want to explore whether people in the future can solve the current problems in the world, such as the inequality among different classes, the conflicts between different countries and cultures, and so on. What’s more, I’m interested in learning how future people comment about the present era I lived in.

What’s your favourite thing about New York?
There are so many fantastic museums in New York.

We would like to congratulate Max Kornfeld and Vighnesh Mehrotra for placing top novice team at CUNY ProAms over the weekend, and Max for placing second novice speaker! A massive thank you to everyone who came out, especially our judges. We couldn't have done it without you!
(Sorry to everyone who missed the group photo!)

Missed us at Clubfest? Worry not! You can still come to our events coming up next week (links below)!

Also, thank you to everyone who came to help us out, and also everyone who stopped by to hear our spiel, sign up, or even just to pick up a chocolate!

Public Debate, Monday: Should Nancy Pelosi have impeached Donald Trump? https://www.facebook.com/events/1007962159603863/
Debate Workshops, Tuesday/Thursday: come learn how parliamentary debate works https://www.facebook.com/events/2616232485159910/

New year, (partially) new board! Looking forward to seeing everyone again, or meeting you for the first time, when the semester starts!

Congratulations to Sania Irfan and Alfonso Tan, who broke to 12th at Brandeis IV over the weekend! Brandeis and Villanova wrap up our semester of debate, so thank you so much to everyone who came to debate, judge, or observe our practices and at tournaments! We hope you'll be back for more next semester after a nice winter break.

We went to NorthEastern ProAms over the weekend! Thank you to everyone who came to debate and judge, and we hope it was a lot of fun!

Meet Ranti Adeniyi​, who joined our team in Fall 2018. Ranti is a junior studying Computer Science who hails from London. Very relatably, Ranti enjoys her time outside of debate sleeping.

What prior debate experience did you have?
I wouldn’t really call what I did in high school debate. There was a debate club that I joined where there were only 4 of us and we competed in one tournament which we lost. In fact, I didn’t even get to debate because we didn’t advance to the next round. Afterwards the teacher left the school and we never did it again. So this was definitely the first time that I’ve been on a real team.

Why do you debate?
I was initially attracted to debate because I watch Prime Minister Questions that takes place in the House of Commons in the UK. I was pretty much in awe watching people who are so articulate and can quickly think of responses to really hard questions. In general, I believe that debate exposes you to new ideas and you begin to realise that the world is not so black and white. School has a heavy focus on trying to get you to learn a single right answer and debate is a great contrast, where there a multiple viewpoints and varying interpretations of facts. It is really a mental exercise that is interactive and useful in everyday life.

If you were the eighth dwarf from Snow White, what would your name be?
Snarky

Who do you admire most and why?
Leonardo Da Vinci because he was not formally educated but was highly talented in science and the arts. He came up with inventions that were hundreds of years ahead of his time.

Two great tournaments over the weekend! On the APDA side, we had a great showing at Columbia, with Jaedon Abbott and Andrew Choi breaking into varsity octofinals, Julian Galaz and Bruce Wu making it to the novice finals, and Julian also placing 9th novice speaker. On the BP side, Sania Irfan and Parinita Pk were the first place novice team at NAUDC HWS! Huge thanks to everyone who came to either tournament over the weekend, as well as those who volunteered to judge! We're so proud of everyone and hope you had lots of fun! (Not pictured at Columbia: literally 7 people sorry y'all)

Today, we're featuring Youngin Seo, from Busan, South Korea! Youngin had no debate experience when she joined the team in Spring 2019, but hey, nothing wrong with that!

What year are you and what do you study?
I’m a rising sophomore double majoring in Global Liberal Studies and Mathematics

Why do you debate?
I wanted to try new things in college and step outside my comfort zone.

What do you do outside of debate?
Explore NYC on foot with friends

If you could change one thing from the past, what would you change?
Sleep early!

What is one thing you’re good at, but you’d never put on your resume?
The ability to sleep as long as I want (up to approximately 36hrs)

Happy October! We had some fun times at Haverford over the weekend.

Meet Sebastian Lopez, a junior from Montreal studying marketing at Stern! Sebastian has been with the team since Fall 2017 and enjoys thinking creatively on his feet as well as the process that goes behind writing cases. Outside of debate, Sebastian likes to write screenplays and make short films, as well as camping and/or hiking.

What’s your motto?
“Not with that attitude.”

What would you want the world to remember about you in 200 years?
That one time a kid in my archery class was having trouble and I told him I could do it with my eyes closed. The kid asked me to prove it and so I covered my eyes and through sheer force of luck managed to get a near bullseye on the target.

If you could time travel to any era, past or future, when would you go and why?
I’d go back to when I was a kid and give me a sports almanac from this year. From there I would hope my past self would place bets on the winners of certain sports games and make enough money to become a billionaire. From there I would become the practical owner of a small town. But wait, if I went back in time, and changed my past, then my future self wouldn’t be able to go back in time because I’d lived a different life. Therefore I’d have no reason to go into the past and my future wouldn’t change. Is that paradox? I think that’s a paradox. Oh well, hopefully the world won’t end.

If you could teleport to and from any place in the universe with no consequences, where would you go and why?
There’s this mountain on the border of South Carolina and Georgia called Stone Quarry. It has the most beautiful starry nights and absolutely gorgeous sunrises. It’s probably my favorite spot in the world.

Who is your favourite historical figure and why?
I’m not sure how historical he was, but there was a Russian surgeon named Leonid Rogozov who was stationed in the Antarctic when he developed appendicitis. Since there was no other surgeon on the station and no one could get to him, he had to do the surgery on himself, with only local anesthesia! The man had to scoop out his own intestines, then put them back! If that’s not badass I don’t know what is.

If you could change one thing from the past, what would you change?
I’d go back in time and stop my future self from giving my past self that sports almanac, saving the future from a world devouring paradox.

If you are guaranteed to succeed at one thing, what would you do?
Impressing people with these questions