Matthew Harris Ornstein Outstanding Debater Award: Bobby Thorn (Eliot Hine – School Without Walls)

Bobby is one of the youngest winners of the Matthew Harris-Ornstein Outstanding Debater Award, transitioning from Middle School to High School this summer. What impressed his instructors started before the institute even kicked off: 

“He’s been super involved even before camp. Dr K and I sent out summer pre-reading assignments, and Bobby was always the first to do it and ask questions. We were having them cut cards before camp. Bobby cut the most. He’s always asking questions in lab. He’s sort of social glue among his peers….Bobby works super hard and is super kind and supportive to his peers…..He’s very humble (maybe too humble) and always uplifts others. “

Combined with wry humor and a strong sense of what he wants to do in debate rounds and get out of his career, he is an excellent representation of Matthew’s values.

Keoni Scott-Reid Outstanding Instructor: Noah Smith

I first met Noah when he was a competitor, debating for Baltimore City College. They made innovative, fun arguments that broke up the same old rhythm of the debate space, and were humble, eager for feedback, and had a clear passion for the activity. While our teams didn’t usually like the outcome, they were a team we looked forward to facing. 

Now in his 3rd year as an instructor, Noah co-lead JV 2, our HS students this year, taking a historically recalcitrant lab and making them highly engaged, excited and ready for the season. He also thinks deeply about cultural questions, leading a session on about online radicalization and speaking up about camp-wide norm-building. 

From his nomination: 

“Noah is an outstanding debate instructor, but what really sets him apart are two important traits. First, he listens to our debaters, and engages them thoughtfully and in ways that they can relate to. He makes them feel heard. Second, his attitude is exceptional, always looking for what can and should be done to help the lab, and debate camp in general, run more smoothly and be more organized. He seeks out additional work and just does it, because he recognizes needs and meets them.

Noah truly embodied Keoni’s fun loving but serious spirit, and I think they’d be kindred spirits if Keoni were with us today.  

Outstanding Novice: Felix Santiago (Latin Cooper)

From lab leader Haven Howard in his nomination letter: 

“I would like to nominate Felix…has shown eagerness to debate, ability to grow, and has been a leader in the class….He shows up ready to take in feedback and grow…he is looking forward to the tournament and will do his best to crush every other lab.”

While Felix didn’t quite crush everyone else, a 3rd place finish in your first debate is a pretty good place to start! 

Competitively, there were so many incredible individual and partnership performances, but one message shined through — DC International put themselves on the map as the team to beat this year. DCI students won Rookie, Novice, and Varsity, got 2nd in JV,  1st and 2nd Varsity Speaker Awards, 2nd Speaker in Novice and JV, and 18 total awards. Keep up the good work team and Coach King! 

Summer Camp is often the start of many debater’s journey, and this year was no different, with 7(!) new debater labs (4 Rookie, 3 Novice) for 128 students.

Rookie: 

The trophy winners in Rookie are a great mix of students attending some of our strongest Middle School programs — Oyster Adams, John Francis, Eliot Hine. Stuart Hobson beware, there are a lot of strong powerhouse programs growing to give y’all a run for the Best MS Team award this year. 

One squad angling to join them is Washington Latin’s Cooper Campus, a newer campus with an even newer team. Coach Ferguson started the program this Spring, and they had more than 30 students come to camp eager to get started in debate. They won 8 rookie awards, which is a great start! 

Turner / Abner (DCI) won the division, followed by Faranda-Harris / Grabman Russell (Oyster / Latin Cooper), Abiy /Nkoue (John Francis / CH Montessori), Mahler / Chisholm (Deal / Latin Cooper), and Campbell / Turner (Deal / John Francis). 

Shout outs: 

• Multiple students from our ES program started the next phase of their debate careers, including award winners Abiy, Campbell, and Butler (John Francis), Turner and Montiero (Deal), and Bunch (DCI).
• Younger siblings, including award winners Abiy (sister made her Varsity debut for Walls), Morin (brother is the new captain at Eastern), and Zareen (brother debates for Seneca Valley in Varsity). 

Novice: 

SYEP students Rogers / Owens (DCI) dominated the Novice division, with (Martinez / Early-Lubang) a close second (Melvin is the younger sibling of WUDL staff member Dennis). More sibling power was on display, with Faranda-Harris / Santiago placing 3rd and Mahler / Delgado (DCI) 5th (the second Faranda-Harris and Mahler to be awarded that day). Abebusoye / Prescod of Academy of Health Sciences finished 4th. We expect them to be fast movers to join their growing squad this fall. 

JV: 

Junior Varsity, as I always say, is where folks know what they’re supposed to do, but can’t quite pull it off yet, or are still working on developing complexity, but from what we saw this summer, a whole bunch of students aren’t far off! 

Ferris / Gucuk (Oyster Adams) won a lot of awards this past year, and they added another 1st place trophy to their list this summer, but they had lots of company, with Holley-Miers / Sousa (Banneker / DCI) finishing 2nd, Thorn / Stone (Eliot Hine / Hardy) finishing 3rd, Ramos / Petruska (Duke, Walls) 4th, and Taylor / Mshana (CPA / AHS) 5th. 

Shout outs: 

• McCurty from DCI, winning 2nd speaker in their first tournament at the JV level

Varsity:

After a great summer camp — WUDL’s Varsity Division has doubled in size, with more than 30 teams competing across 18 schools. This is the largest, most competitive, and most creative class of debaters WUDL has ever seen, and the competition reflected that, with dozens of unique, detailed cases written for the competition, including multiple cases containing performative elements. 

A year ago, Claudia and Addie came to me and begged to be allowed to drop back down to JV, not feeling ready for Varsity level competition. This year, they won the Varsity Division as freshmen, which has never been done before, and were the top two speakers. A whose who of experienced competitors rounded out the top five, with BASIS DC’s Margaret / Jack S., Banneker’s Goldblatt Young and a BASIS / Banneker hybrid of Sitara and Jack T. winning trophies, along with the newly formed sibling team of Thorpe^2 at Banneker. 

Shout outs:

• Amelia / Simone (Walls), Chi Chi / Mark (Flowers / Seneca Valley) and Murray / Asha (BASIS DC / DCI) also won awards in their first Varsity competition. 
• Everyone in the Transition to Varsity Lab who made the jump up for their first Varsity competition, competing against more established competitors with 33% less prep this summer. Each team won at least one round and showed that they belong at the highest levels.