The University of Kentucky Intercollegiate Debate Team, housed in the College of Communication and Information, continued its strong start to the spring semester by adding another championship under its belt.
The Public Forum Debate Team competed at the March Invitational hosted by the Collegiate Public Forum League on March 12, 2022. UK debaters competed against teams from across the country.
Sophomores Eriel Burns and Caroline Koontz took first place. Burns and Koontz finished preliminary rounds as the first overall seed, with a 4-0 record.
In elimination rounds, Kentucky competed against teams from California State University, Fullerton and California State University, Northridge in the semi-final and final rounds respectively. Burns and Koontz championed the final round on a 3-0 decision.
Burns also received the Top Speaker Award.
“We’ve been working for so long to win one of these tournaments,” Koontz said. “Being able to finally win feels like a dream.”
The team is continuing to work hard for the next competition, the CPFL National Championship in April.
The Public Forum Debate Team is part of the nationally-ranked Intercollegiate Debate program housed in the UK College of Communication and Information. For more information about UK Debate, visit https://ci.uky.edu/UKDebate/.