The College's Mock Trial, Parliamentary Debate and College Bowl teams will spread out across the country for a shot at winning national titles this weekend.
Mock Trial will compete in its third consecutive trip to nationals in Des Moines, Iowa. The team of eight people qualified for the national competition based on its performance at a regional competition this February.
Mock Trial President Stacy Kourlis '06 said the team must adapt their performance style for this competition to account for regional variations between the Midwest and the East Coast.
"Going to nationals, we have to change our style," Kourlis said. "We have to be on our feet so that we can react to preferences of the Midwestern judges."
Each case, which is a reenactment of a civil or criminal case, involves a presentation of both sides of the argument. Participants deliver opening statements portraying a prosecutor and defense attorney as well as full testimonies from two witnesses.
College Bowl will head to the University of Maryland this Friday to participate in the National Academic Quiz Tournament, in which the top 32 teams in the country participate each year. Because the team added a graduate student to its roster, it will compete in the Division I section of nationals. Traditionally, the team has participated in Division II, which is reserved for teams composed solely of undergraduates who have never played on team that qualified for the national championship.
Last year, College Bowl placed 19th overall in the national competition. The team placed fifth in their sectional competition this year and was removed from the wait list for the national tournament when other teams could not participate.
At NAQT competitions, teams are composed of four students, each of which answers questions posed in a round robin style tournament. Questions cover a diverse array of topics ranging from organic chemistry to literature to pop culture.
Parliamentary debate, represented by Katherine Farr '06 and Israel Marques '07, will attend the American Parliamentary Debate Association Nationals at Fordham University in New York City.
"Dartmouth has always had representatives at nationals," parliamentary debate treasurer Tatyana Liskovich '08 said, "[but] since our season ended early we were unable to have more teams attend more tournaments, which is how qualifying works."
Due to inadequate funding, the spring season of parliamentary debate was cancelled, which bars more teams from participating in nationals. Liskovich attributes parliamentary debate's unfavorable financial situation to the group being overshadowed by larger organizations such as policy debate and mock trial.
