HWS News
18 November 2025 HWS Debate Triumphs at Rochester Tournament
Team continues its competitive streak across North America and prepares for Worlds in Bulgaria.
Hudson Chou ’27 and Sasha Zory ’28 emerged as champions at the Rochester Inter-Varsity Debate Tournament. Chou and Zory defeated teams from Cornell, Colgate, Bard and the University of Vermont to earn the title. Chou was also named the tournament’s top speaker. The win marks the second time in HWS Debate program history HWS has won the Rochester tournament.
Lucy Ruff ’29 and Mei Le ’29 earned second- and third-place rookie speaker awards at the tournament.
HWS Debate has a record of developing strong adjudicators. Dylan Ballard ’28, Myles Nichols ’28 and Sophie Lewandowska ’29 advanced to elimination rounds as judges. The Rochester tournament marked Lewandowska’s first time judging collegiate debate.
This semester, HWS Debate has competed at Yale University and the University of Toronto. Next, they will compete at the U.S. University Debate Championship (USUDC) held at the University of Pennsylvania.
During winter break, HWS Debate will compete at the World University Debate Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria. The team has selected Chou, Zory and Briana Reyes ’28 and Dylan Ballard ’28 to compete.
Chou, who is the president of the team, represented HWS at last year’s Worlds in Panama City, Panama. He also qualified for the semi-finals of the U.S. University Debate Championship in 2023. In 2024, Reyes and Ballard reached the finals of the USUDC, marking the fourth consecutive year an HWS team earned finalist honors at a tournament.
HWS participates in the most competitive format in university debate, known as the British Parliamentary style. Teams of two are given 15 minutes to prepare their case in support of or against a motion.
