SAS clinches silver medals in intraschool debate

by Jeanna Calma and Ian De Leon | October 22, 2023

Yesterday, October 21, 2023, student institutions from the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) achieved 2nd runner-up positions in both the uniwide and press tournaments in the intraschool debate tournament, held at Saint Joseph Hall (SJH) Academic Hall.

The Nexus participated in the press tournament with the team consisting of participants Rico Arnaldo Tiglao, Addiel Jin Evangelista, Jeanna Mae Calma, Kayel Salvador, and Katherine Santillan as the Team Captain.

In the preliminary rounds, the publication secured victory by default, as the opposing team, the Lifeline, did not have enough participants to compete. This advancement led them to the semi-finals against The Enterprise.

The Nexus clinched the title of 3rd place. However, due to The Angelite withdrawing from the final match, The Nexus earned 2nd place with the former publication. Meanwhile, The Enterprise won 1st place, and The Solution as 3rd place.

“It was surprising [as 2nd placer], my team had little to no experience in formal debates and we had limited time to practice. Though I’m still proud of what we had given, I really commend my team for their effort and excellence,” said Ms. Santillan.

Meanwhile, the CSC-SAS x CSC-SNAMS team with participants James Ryan Navarro, Elora Mae Santarin, and Laurence Sagun from the SAS Department also won 2nd place in the uniwide tournament.

The team matched against the University Student Council in the preliminaries, CSC-SEA in the semi-finals, and lastly against CSC-SBA in the finals. Uniwide 1 team took home 3rd place, while CSC-SNAMS x CSC-SAS earned 2nd place and CSC-SBA as 1st place.

"I guess it's both expected and unexpected. Unexpected in the sense that we, [as] a group of freshies and second-years managed to advance to the finals against teams with years of debate experience under their belt,” said Mr. Navarro, “... I'm happy to say our hard labor was rewarded.”

The intraschool debate competition was entitled Prodientium: Intraschool Debate Competition, held by the organization, Juris Orbis and the HAU Office of Student Affairs. The competition follows a single-elimination and was divided into two categories: uniwide tournament (for student organizations and councils), and press tournament (for publications).