{"id":19250,"date":"2022-12-13T10:44:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T15:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/?p=19250&preview=true&preview_id=19250"},"modified":"2023-07-26T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:19:03","slug":"earlham-students-leave-mark-in-first-year-competing-at-nations-largest-arabic-debate-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/earlham-students-leave-mark-in-first-year-competing-at-nations-largest-arabic-debate-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Earlham students leave mark in first year competing at nation’s largest Arabic debate competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A team from Earlham College students went toe-to-toe with students from some of the largest and most prestigious universities from around the nation at the U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship at Stanford University held earlier this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Earlham team participated in four debates, taking home best speaker individual awards in three of them. It was the first time that Earlham had sent a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were definitely underdogs\u2014one of the only private liberal arts colleges there,\u201d said junior Ihsan Alaeddin. He suspects that the other teams didn\u2019t expect much of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaeddin was one of five Earlham students in the competition, which is sponsored by Qatar Debate and is the largest Arabic speaking debate in the nation. He was joined by senior Ahmed Deeb and sophomores Zain Hammad and Yara Matar. Ferris Odeh, a graduate from the Class of 2012 who is pursuing a Master of Education<\/a>, was the team\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were really motivated by all of the encouragement and support we received from Earlham,\u201d Deeb said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really know what we were getting ourselves into. We knew the structure of the competition, but that\u2019s it. We practiced a lot and were preparing like we were going to win from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team structured their preparation sessions based on videos from past competitions. They used resources from QatarDebate and Earlham libraries to practice debating, and organized team bonding activities. Forty teams participated in the event with Earlham debating against students from institutions like UCLA, Texas Tech and M.I.T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the Golden Gate Bridge, from left to right: Ferris Odeh, Zain Hammad, Ahmed Deeb and Ihsan Alaeddin. Not pictured: Yara Matar.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cCompeting in the quarterfinals was just an insane experience for us,\u201d Hammad said. \u201cI think it helped that we were all friends and come from such a small college community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are all studying different things at Earlham,\u201d he said. \u201cAhmed is going for pre-med. Some of us are interested in media and communications and sustainability. We could trust each other talking about different topics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debate participants received free airfare and accommodations at Stanford. Earlham further supported the team by helping them establish a student organization called Debate MENA, short for Middle East and North Africa. The club attracts Earlham students who are passionate about discussing, learning and expanding awareness about topics from that region of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things that I appreciate about Earlham is that the school admits people with really strong character,\u201d Alaeddin said. The team was both tenacious and confident. \u201cWe always believed we had a stronger argument.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All five team members come from countries where Arabic is the primary language. Deeb, Matar, Alaeddin and Odeh are natives of Palestine. Hammad is from Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an amazing feeling to be immersed in a space full of Arabs and full of people who look like us and come from places that speak our first language,\u201d Odeh said. \u201cI think we all ran into people we knew and we met new people as well,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gave us all more confidence living and existing with our identities in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team has already been invited to return to next year\u2019s competition as participants and judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a very eye-opening and restorative experience,\u201d Matar said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a clich\u00e9 to say, but experiences like these teach you how to think about the decisions you make in life and to create your own analysis of what people tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was intimidated at the beginning, but because we were all friends prior to coming to Stanford, everyone was really respectful and encouraging. I couldn\u2019t have dreamed of better teammates, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Media contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Zimmerman<\/strong>
Director of media relations
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Email: zimmebr@earlham.edu
Phone: 765.983.1256<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n