Last year, during campus closures, a group of friends with a passion for public speaking, decided to form a debate club and enter national competitions. What started as a spur-of-the-moment idea has now placed the group of friends on the national stage, competing against Vietnam’s best High School and college debators at the prestigious Hanoi Debate Tournament!

Calling themselves the UNIS Debate Society, the group of Grade 11 students formed two teams – Team UNIS A and Team UNIS B.

Team UNIS A was made up of Eddie Lee, Donghoon Shin, Francesco Silva, Ayami Matsumura, and Binh Vu.

Team UNIS B was made up of Jeongha Kim, Linh Van Dang, Mai Ly Hagan, Tazca Levitt, and Kitty Tran.

Following a series of rounds over the past twelve months, the two UNIS teams made it to the city-level round, winning spots at the Hanoi Debate Tournament. Competing against 41 teams from across the country, Team UNIS A successfully placed third, while Team UNIS B successfully placed second!

In addition to the team wins, members of the UNIS Debate Society also won individual awards:

Jeongha Kim won the 1st Best Speaker award;
Kitty Tran won the 5th Best Speaker award;
and Binh Vu won the 10th Best Speaker award.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the participants.