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February 23, 2018
The UNT Debate Team will compete in the 2018 National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE) March 28-31. During the tournament, the top 64 teams from over 20 different colleges will compete to be crowned the national champion in debate. UNT Debate team members Matthew Hernandez (freshman Journalism major from Athens, TX) and Abron Hester, (senior Political Science major from Harker Heights, TX) earned the right to represent UNT at the competition this year.
Hernandez and Hester have had numerous successes throughout the season, which runs September - February. During that time teams from multiple colleges and universities compete at invitational tournaments, earning points based on their competitive success both in preliminary and elimination rounds. Hernandez and Hester achieved great success this year, winning the Texas State Championship in November, and placing at the University of Utah, William Jewell College, and Washburn University. Currently, Hernandez and Hester are ranked 39 out of over 600 parliamentary debate teams from schools around the country (https://www.nptedebate.org/years/2018/teams )
The NPTE is known as a topic area tournament, which means the topics are released three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. The tournament will be hosted by Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, OR. The NPTE began in 2000 as the premier national competition in parliamentary debate. The tournament's mission is "to provide an opportunity for the finest parliamentary debate teams from a variety of schools to participate in an annual championship parliamentary debate tournament." The tournament awards 1st through 32nd place and recognizes the top 20 individual speakers, the coach of the year, and several other service awards for the national parliamentary debate organization.
The team competes this week in Houston at the National Round Robin, another selective tournament which only invites 15 teams to attend. UNT will be represented by Hernandez and Hester as well as James Renfroe (freshman business major from Midlothian, TX) and Michael Pulver (freshman, business major from Larue, TX).
Cheer UNT Debate on to success at the Round Robin and at Nationals by following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube: @UNTDebate.
Story courtesy of Brian Lain