Scott Wunn’s Opening Address

Scott stresses community building efforts, and singles out Kelly Phil as an outstanding example of student leadership rarely seen even in the U.S. He is also impressed with the “Tournament Pledge,” an honor code for debaters in Taiwan.

2019 Coach of the Year

This man had a vision of spreading US style debate more widely for everyone in Taiwan. Behind the scene, this man has spent countless hours devoting his personal time to actualize this dream, in spite of insurmountable obstacles from all sides who do debate in this town. This man is a master of mitigation, a born diplomat, and actually a real diplomat by profession; he works for AIT. With his bigger than himself vision and passion, and with the help of a few others like him, he has opened the doors of opportunity for many local schools here in Taiwan to do debate for free. Can’t say too much publicly, but this massive program is coming to this town, to us, to you and me.

2019 Outstanding Seniors

The six seniors below combined have been accepted to some of the most prestigious schools: All the UCs (Irvine, Davis, San Diego, LA, and Berkeley), Georgetown, Columbia, Northwestern, USC, Yale NUS, Wesleyan, UNC Chapel hill, U Washington, Boston college, Wake forest, U of Michigan, U of Illinois, and NYUAD.

Ginny has met incredible minds and friends through debate.

Ginny Hwang (DIS) is, without a doubt, one of the most active, driven, and independent students I have come across in my stay at DIS. Her passion in debate and forensics is something that she has carried both in and out of school. Although DIS lacks a debate program, I know that she has, throughout her high school career, worked outside of school to compete in both national and international tournaments. She has also challenged herself by attending debate camps in the United States as well as competing in different forms of debate. Within the school campus, she has also exhibited leadership skills through her dedication to DIS’s Model UN club, mentoring younger students along the way. Her work is an inspiration to her fellow peers and students in the school community.

Teamwork, is the life lesson James has gained from debate.

James Pan (TES) has been debating for so much of his young life that he cannot even remember when he started. He has been juggling school work and speech for so many years that it has become second nature to him: we often talk about students burning the candle at both ends, and James has probably been burning the candle in the middle as well. He has represented Taiwanese debate in both China and the US, nowadays doing a lot of judging, and he has also found time to be Student President at Taipei European School. He has moved from PF to Policy and then back again, and acknowledges that he has got a lot from doing debating: knowledge of a lot of issues, critical thinking under pressure, and a lot of friendships.

Confidence is what April has gained from speech and debate.

April Tsai (TAS) has been a tremendous leader in the TAS Speech & Debate program. As a competitor, she has represented TAS well at IASAS, reaching the final round the last 2 years in extemporaneous speaking, and also in the United States, reaching the quarterfinal round of extemporaneous speaking at the Cal Berkeley Invitational this year. As a leader, April has led our Forum Club in the MS and Forensics Society in the HS, including running numerous practices and training sessions for dozens of students at TAS. Her dedication to the TAS Speech & Debate Team has been critical to our efforts this year to grow both the MS and HS programs and we will miss her dearly next year.

Better time management and friendship come through debate, says Darren.

Darren explains how debate has helped him with the college application process.

Darren Fang (TAS) has made debate a priority throughout high school and it shows in the impact he has made on the Taiwan debate community – at TAS and beyond. At TAS, Darren has competed in PF, IASAS Debate, and IPPF – excelling in all three during his four years. Outside of TAS, he is a member of the Taiwan National Team and has given countless hours to coaching and judging at tournaments for younger students. Darren was the de facto leader of the TAS IASAS teams this year, organizing practices and research assignments. His dedication to speech & debate has left a lasting impact on TAS and Taiwan and we will miss his leadership sincerely next year.

Bryan explains how debate has shaped his thinking process.

Bryan Ying (PAS) has developed an analytical mind and critical thinking skills through his high school MUN and Debates. He has seriously participated debate tournaments in the past three years, winning the second place in policy debate last year and qualified for the NSDA US Nationals. Since his participation in the NSDA tournaments both Taiwan and China, Bryan co-led PAS Debate Club and has been actively helping the novice debaters at PAS with his own debate experiences. Bryan excels in logic and philosophy, always seeing and interpreting the world and his own problems through his unique perspective. While debate essentially is the predominant manner in which he experiences intellectual growth, he is also an outstanding cellist, exhibiting instrumental logic and abstract interpretation through music.

Salina explains why debate has a special place in her heart.

Salina explains how debate has helped her with the college application process.

Salina Kuo (PAS) has been living in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, where she started her early interest in the social welfare, social justice, and community involvement while experiencing different cultures and lifestyles. Most importantly, she has a big heart for charity and community service. She has participated in many MUN conferences and our student government since sophomore year as the Head of Council Committee and has found several organizations to advocate for different human rights and social activities. She is frequently involved with helping the poor while helping the PAS debate club as the Head, assisting all the younger debaters to refine their debate skills. She has been awarded the best speaker in many tournaments, and placed 2^nd place in policy debate in last year’s NSDA Taiwan National Qualifier. She was also the top speaker in Lincoln Douglas.