This year, the students couldn’t choose between some excellent candidates, so we had a tie! 

Coach Crump moved to D.C. from Houston a few years ago, and immediately jumped into coaching at Eliot Hine Middle School, at the time a new program. In her three years at the helm thus far, the team has grown from a few kids hanging out in the library and learning some big words to a highly competitive juggernaut that is winning awards across the country and has tripled in size. 

Now one of our largest teams (second only to Stuart Hobson this year), Eliot Hine consistently entered more than 18 students at every tournament this season. They’ve been winning awards at every level, from the greenest Rookie debaters to 6th grader Louise Taylor / 8th grader Bobby Thorn, who have won awards at several regionals despite only being in Middle School. They were in the final round of the Lexington JV Breakout, and Louise has won numerous speaker awards despite being 4 years younger than her competitors. 

Coach Crump is incredibly dedicated to her students, putting together complex lesson plans and committing to an extra practice during lunch this year to get even more students involved this year. Her approach to pedagogy is reminiscent of a 20 year veteran teacher, not an attorney for the Federal Government doing this in her spare time. 

Beyond her support for Eliot Hine, Kristina has rallied friends and family to get involved, enthusiastically jumped into service on the WUDL Advisory Board, including serving on our 10th Anniversary Celebration Finance Committee and bringing in numerous sponsorships for the organization.