Beatriz Tavares, winner of the 10th BP City of Murcia Tournament

Daniel Blazquez

Last weekend, the 10th University Debate Tournament was held, organized by the University Debate Club of the University of Murcia, in collaboration with the University itself, IURIS Murcia and Europa Direct. On this occasion, twenty-eight teams participated in the event, from seventeen different institutions. Among all of them, after overcoming several rounds, it was the pair formed by Beatriz Tavares, a student of the URJC, who managed to win the first prize.

The opening of the event, which took place on the afternoon of 14 February, was attended by such notable figures as Adrián Zittelli, Director General of the European Union in the region; Longinos Marín, Professor of Marketing and Market Research at the organising university, and Maravillas Abadía, MEP.

On this occasion, Beatriz Tavares competed alongside Mario de la Hoz, from the Elías Ahuja College in Madrid. The pair advanced successfully during the preliminary rounds, held at the La Merced campus of the Murcian university, in which the key was “to be very consistent, alternating between first and third place in each round.” Finally, before entering the final round, the duo was the second team with the most points in the overall classification.

Throughout the tournament, the student felt “very calm and happy with my interventions.” However, none of the possible scenarios imagined by Tavares included becoming the winner, given the high level of the other seven couples that reached the semi-finals. Therefore, the final verdict was, for Beatriz, “a tremendous surprise and an absolute thrill.” Thus, the URJC-Elías Ahuja team was awarded €850 and a series of diplomas, awarded at an event held in the Moneo Building.

A long-distance race and the World Cup in sight

Beatriz Tavares is currently in her fourth year of a degree in Protocol, Event Organization and Corporate Communication in English. However, her career in the Debate Club began at the same time as her university career: “I started this project when I arrived at the URJC. Since I started the degree, I have been very clear that I loved this.”

Following this recognition, Beatriz Tavares already has her sights set on the World University Championship of Debate in Spanish, which will be held next July in the Dominican Republic. In this case, she will be accompanied by URJC student Daniel de Pedro, a student of the double degree in Political Science and Public Management and Journalism. Being present at this event is “a huge boost and a great motivation, not only for me, but also for the URJC Debate Club, which is once again in important positions,” she concluded.