The University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI, JI hereafter) students set a historical record at the 28th SJTU Lianhe Cup Debate Competition on May 21, winning the championship for the first time in the annual event attended by student teams from 21 institutes of the SJTU this year.
The championship trophy was clinched by the JI No.1 Team composed of junior student Xinyu Deng and three senior students including Yuxuan Tang, Yuan Xu and Jiaying Peng, after they defeated the Joint Team of SJTU School of Media and Communication and School of Design in the final of the competition. Two JI student teams participated in the two-month event starting March 26. The JI No.2 Team was eliminated in the second round of the five-round event.
Group photo of the championship team and its supporting members at the competition
“The passion for debate lights up my otherwise calm life, and even more precious are the friends who accompany me on this journey. We became acquainted and bonded during the first championship of the Freshman Cup in 2019, and winning the Lianhe Cup championship marked a perfect ending to all the wonderful memories. I will forever cherish the nights when I walked back to my dormitory from the Long Bin Building with teammates after our discussions,” said Yuxuan Tang who played the First Speaker in the debate competition.
The three senior students of the winning debate team have been teammates since 2019 when they took part in the SJTU Freshman Cup Debate Competition and won the championship. The JI student teams also achieved good results including Xinyu Cup runner-up in 2020, as well as one of the top 4 in Xinyu Cup of 2020, Lianhe Cup of 2022 and Freshman Cup of 2022.
