Jadon Lai Zhen Hoong

I am standing for Training Officer because I have ideas to take the society to the next level. Having debated competitively at a varsity level for two years before joining UCL, I have had experience as Treasurer, Vice President and Training Officer at Sunway Debate Club. 

Although the current trainers have done well, I believe the club stands to benefit from more personal training sessions that last longer than 20 minutes each. I believe the rushed sessions cause new debaters to lose interest. I believe my experience managing training sessions for both competitive and casual debaters will enable the club to make trainings more engaging and approachable for novice debaters. 

Looking back on my debate experience, the highlights were the people I spent time with in the debating community which motivated me and helped me to achieve my three breaks at majors. 

If given the responsibility, I would do my best to do three things. Firstly, I will do my best to up the retention rate of new debaters by making training more approachable by taking topic suggestions and taking more time for training. Secondly, I will ensure that good judges are put into novice rooms to ensure they are given good feedback. A current problem is that novice debaters feel neglected and lose interest in the club. Finally (if possible) during sessions, I would implement the option to spar (for more advanced debaters) and full-length trainings (for novice debaters) to ensure the foundations are not rushed.