2018 Stanford Invitational Speech & Debate Tournament

VDA students performed exceptionally well at Stanford this year, winning more awards than ever previously received at any tournament! This year we have some extremely strong debaters who have worked hard to win at their debate tournaments. This incredible work ethic has been serving them well, and at the Stanford 2018 Debate Tournament, our students from Vancouver Debate Academy showed off their skills.

During the tournament, we had two teams (Abbie & Emily; Victor & Ellen) go undefeated during the preliminary rounds, winning all 5 of their initial debate rounds. Five of our teams broke into the national break, meaning they were in the top 48 final teams, out of the initial 224! Kudos to these teams: Abbie & Emily; Victor & Ellen; Tom & Alan; Joanna & Yuki; and Eliz & Tina. VDA had three teams make it through into the double octo-finals, meaning they were in the top 32 teams: Victor & Ellen; Joanna & Yuki; and Eliz & Tina. One team from Vancouver Debate Academy broke into the octo-finals, placing in the top 16 teams: Abbie & Emily.

Ellen received an award for placing as the 9th Top Speaker Overall (out of 448!). She was the top Canadian speaker. Alan is also to be congratulated; he was the 23rd Top Speaker.

All of our students put a lot of effort into this tournament and we’re proud of them all. Great work and great debaters!

VDA Honor

Junior VarsityOctofinalists Abbie Wang & Emily Ni
Junior VarsityDouble Octofinalists Eliz Zhou & Tina Yong
Junior VarsityDouble Octofinalists Joanna Chen & Yuki Zhao
Junior VarsityDouble Octofinalists Ellen Li & Victor Tong
Junior VarsityTriple Octofinalists Alan Shen & Tom Chen

Personal Honor

Junior Varsity9th Place Speaker Ellen Li
Junior Varsity23rd Place Speaker Alan Shen