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By JASON GONZALEZ

Despite their distinct backgrounds, �����Թ� State University students Omar Aljubouriy and Jack Hinrichs are united in a shared passion for storytelling and debate. This passion will be instrumental as they aim to engage and inspire audiences alongside their 14 teammates at next month’s Regents’ Cup — the �����Թ� Board of Regents’ annual celebration of free speech.

At the April 12 event at Northern �����Թ� University, Aljubouriy will compete for a third consecutive year. He won the storytelling competition in 2024 and placed third in 2023. Hinrichs and partner Alina Bozhko will pair up to defend ASU’s first-place finish in the Oxford debate competition. 

The 16-member team and its two coaches will also be defending ASU’s 2024 team title. This year's group represents 15 majors and undergraduate and graduate students.

Now in its sixth year, the Regents’ Cup showcases �����Թ�’s public universities’ unified commitment to free speech and expression. ABOR’s general education policy also emphasizes constructive dialogue through civil discourse.

“No two people have had the same sort of situation in their life, and it’s important to share your perspective on things,” Aljubouriy said. “The Regents’ Cup has really changed my life. I have met so many interesting people and it has broadened my respect for differing opinions. It has opened doors to new opportunities for my education and career. I would highly recommend this opportunity to other students.”

Aljubouriy and Hinrichs’ diverse paths span different continents and opposite early-life experiences.

Aljubouriy, a senior majoring in criminal justice and criminology, is an Iraqi-American who moved with his family in 2014 to Glendale, Ariz. More focused on growing his social circle rather than academics, it wasn’t until he enrolled in college that he began to take education more seriously. With no storytelling or debate experience, he was intrigued by the Regents’ Cup opportunity and has discovered his natural talent for storytelling.

Hinrichs, a sophomore studying politics and economics, was a high school honors student from a small town in South Dakota. A seasoned member of his high school debate team and a voracious reader, academics was a priority from an early age in his household.

“I’ve learned that it’s OK to be unique. It can be easy to confine yourself in a box to be what other people want you to be. Just ignore that to be you. That’s amazing,” Hinrichs said. “One of the important aspects of free speech is that the value of your speech is determined in the moment by the power of your message. So, what matters is how we show up in April and how prepared we are.”

This year’s competition, centered around the theme of “The Government and the People: The Social Contract,” will demonstrate the months of practice each team has invested in refining their public speaking skills and learning to engage with diverse opinions and ideas. 

Grace Guidry described her initial challenges with self-doubt. "My first week of practice, I felt a lot of self-doubt just comparing myself to others on the team," said the junior majoring in business entrepreneurship. "But receiving both positive and negative feedback made me want to work a lot harder."

Co-coach and ASU’s Forensics Director Dr. Adam Symonds praised the team's deep talent, selected from over 150 applications. "We selected what we thought were the best of the best, and they're proving it," he said. "They're showing up prepared. They're showing up with new ideas. They're engaged within each other's debates."

Jenny Brian, Ph.D., co-coach and faculty chair at Barrett, The Honors College at ASU, sees this competition as more than an academic exercise, sharing, “it's a laboratory for empathy and civil discourse.” She noted that every Friday during the team’s three-hour practices, students push intellectual boundaries and learn new perspectives. 

"It is amazing to see these students develop,” Brian said. “Everything they do is making one another more curious and, ultimately, better people. I get the absolute privilege of watching that each week."

To learn more about the ASU Regents’ Cup team and read their individual essays on the importance of civil discourse and free speech, visit the Regents’ Cup team page here.  Please contact the board office if you would like more information about visiting the Regents’ Cup event.