UMW Debate brought home a national championship this spring, thanks to the persuasive powers of Colin McElhinny ’14 and Thomas Pacheco ’14.
The team competed March 16 at the American Debate Association National Championship, held at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
McElhinny and Pacheco were seeded second going into the final round, having beaten teams from Liberty, George Mason University, the University of Houston, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Minnesota. The final round was a rematch with Wake Forest University, the only team to defeat UMW in preliminaries. This time, the UMW debaters won a unanimous decision.
Pacheco also won the Julia Burke Award for Character and Excellence in American Debate Association Policy Debate. It was the second national championship title for UMW Debate, which also won in 2009.
Thomas Pacheco, left, and Colin McElhinny, who won a national debate championship this spring, went to Paris last year. The trip was a study tour they won for their performance in debates sponsored by the French, German, and Belgian embassies.