GW’s Parliamentary Debate Society Celebrates a Winning Year

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Debaters think fast. In the heat of the moment, they marshal their arguments and the details to support them with the goal of being more convincing than their opponents, who argue for the opposite side of the issue at hand. After distinguishing itself in arguing both pro and con, the George Washington University's Parliamentary Debate Society (GWPDS) is celebrating a winning year capped with the "Club of the Year" (COTY) award from the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA).

The outgoing GWPDS president for the '25-'26 academic year, Yuki Nakano, is a rising senior majoring in finance in the School of Business. Winning the COTY award at the championship tournament, held April 24-26 in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, came as a pleasant surprise, he said.

"I think a lot of stars aligned for us. But I also think a big part of it was the effort that a lot of people put in," Nakano said.

He and his frequent debate partner, Ryan Tiedemann, B.A. '26, grounded their successful partnership in a solid friendship, formed through activities like playing basketball and video games together.

"Having a good partner dynamic means having an understanding of what each person needs to do and being able to communicate well," Nakano said. "Every debater is going to be different, but it's important to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. Partners help each other out. You come up with arguments together and things like that. You work together on your preparation beforehand."

There are two types of tournaments in American parliamentary debate. In the first, a "cases" tournament, teams alternate choosing a topic; in a "motions" tournament, the judges specify a topic. As a finance major, Nakano likes topics involving economics. Tiedemann gravitates to topics involving international relations, a subject area frequently preferred by GW debaters.

Other schools have different specialties. Debaters from Johns Hopkins, Tiedemann said, often choose subjects related to health care; Yale debaters tend to like economics. "But over the course of the year, you're going to be debating almost any topic under the sun."

People are drawn to debate for different reasons, Nakano and Tiedemann agreed, and those reasons affect their debating styles.

"A lot of people join debate clubs to strengthen their public speaking skills, and their goal might not be winning tournaments, but getting good speaker points or giving a speech they feel confident about," Tiedemann said. "Other people join as a resumé booster. People like me join to strengthen our reasoning abilities. So, the way I debate is different from people who have different goals."

Tiedemann, who graduated with a double major in international affairs and philosophy, said his ability to reason logically has improved through debating.

"Debate rewards logical rigor," Tiedemann said. "You need to know things about the real world to debate, but it's not a statistics battle. It's a logical battle in real time about what issues matter more. What is going to happen if something happens? What events are going to follow it? Likelihood, stakeholder analysis, all of these come into play. Debate really strengthens your ability to think on your feet."

Participating in GWPDS strengthens the ability to assess situations clearly, Tiedemann added. It helps people learn how to think through an issue for themselves rather than simply defaulting to the first opinion they see. And it helps them read more critically, alert for flaws in reasoning.

"Debate teaches you to see arguments in a structure and in a way that allows you to challenge them," Tiedemann said. "That is an essential skill, especially for students looking to go into fields like law, which a lot of debaters go into, or economics. Also, I think it just strengthens your critical thinking skills and helps you approach the world. It helps you approach politics and social problems with more knowledge about the world, because you're debating so many different topics and learning about them."

After spending the coming academic year as a teaching assistant at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore, Tiedemann will likely apply to law schools.

Nakano, too, spoke of debate as a kind of gym workout for the brain.

"It's like an intellectually stimulating game," Nakano said. "Not only do you learn a lot, but it really helps train your mind. I'm a competitive person, so I also like the competitive aspects. And it's a way of sharing knowledge. I've learned a lot of facts about the world through debate."

"Something that is really nice for a lot of people is the ability to choose their own topic," Tiedemann said. "A lot of people have unique and complex interests and if they can show up and get everyone in the room to think about that for an hour and a half, that can be really meaningful."