Ateneans make historic feat at World Universities Debating Championship
Four Ateneo de Manila University students made Philippine history with their Grand Finals finish at the World Universities Debating Championship 2021.
The two Ateneo teams, composed of Ignacio Villareal (AB Economics- Honors 2021) and Mikko Vitug (4 BS Applied Mathematics with Specialization in Finance) in Team A and David Africa (3 BS Applied Mathematics -Master in Data Science) and Luigi Alcañeses (BS Management Engineering and AB Economics Honors 2021) in Team B represented the Philippines —the first time any Philippine institution has entered the grand finals of WUDC. They competed against speakers from University of Zagreb and the London School of Economics, with Zagreb taking home the top prize.
While they were not able to clinch the top spot, all four Ateneans received Top 10 finishes for Best Open Speaker: Villarreal (3rd), Vitug (4th), Africa (7th), and Alcañeses (8th).
"Reaching the Finals of the WUDC stage was part of a childhood dream that at times just seemed to impossible. It is difficult to find the right words for my feelings,"says Villareal. "I guess what’s most important to say is this: without the support of the Ateneans, Filipinos, and Asians who came before and will come after us, this would have never been possible. While it is heart breaking not to win it all, I am excited to see the next generation of debaters who will complete the dream for us."
Considered as the world’s largest academic debating competition, WUDC uses a format modeled on British Parliamentary debate and is participated by top universities including Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Princeton, and NUS.
This historic feat is another example of Ateneo’s long-standing tradition of excellence, hard work, and discipline.
