Surya Dhaka

My desire to nominate myself as Technology Officer for UCL's Debating Society stems from my passion for debating and desire to utilise technology to serve a society I am proud to be a part of. 

Debating has been a huge part of my life since my secondary school education began. I was a shy kid growing up with a stutter and inevitably low confidence. I tried debating once in Year 7, but the judge - a teacher - told me I had a weird accent and would struggle in debating. I took his lack of faith as a challenge, and threw myself into the world of debating. In the following years, I joined my school's debate society and became a regular starter in my school's debate team. In Year 12 I became captain of my debate team and was elected as President of my school's Senior Debating Society.

My commitment and love for debating culminated in my being awarded the Senior Award for Debating and Public Speaking in Year 13.

I would love to continue my investment in debating by being on UCL's debate committee. 

But why technology officer specifically?

I've been fascinated by tech even longer than I've loved debating. I like being able to solve problems using technology, hence why I've been learning Python for the last 4 months, to the point where I know basic python now. I have experience in building websites for competitions and thus feel my skills align perfectly with the duties of a tech officer on the UCL Debating Committee.