Kevin Li Wins Columbia

Congratulations to Stuyvesant's Kevin Li for winning the 2018 Columbia University Invitational. In finals, Kevin defeated Cypress Woods' Chakra Jonnalagadda on a 2-1 decision (Venkatesh, Ewing, Zhou*). Congratulations to Kevin for also being top speaker.

Full results and pairings can be found here.

From the Columbia Tournament:

"We are so excited to announce that this year, the Columbia Invitational will be partnering with the New York City Urban Debate League by donating $1,000 of our profits to the Urban Debate League under the names of speech and debate competitors who have shown exceptional skill and commitment this weekend by either winning their field or receiving a bid to the Tournament of Champions. These students will each have $50 donated to the Urban Debate League in their name, and will be recognized for their achievement on a webpage on the NYC Urban Debate League.

Having had the fortune of experiencing the academically transformative activity of speech and debate first hand, we know that its benefits are enormous and hope to share with underserved students the opportunity to access this unique activity. Not only does debate teach important rhetorical and research skills, alumni of the Urban Debate League program have been shown to have higher GPAs, higher high school graduation rates, and higher college acceptance rates. We really hope to pass along the joy of debate to more competitors, and continue this tradition each year."