If you’ve been to any Washington Urban Debate League event over the last seven years, you’ve probably run into Parker McCauley. Not only has McCauley, a senior, been around since 6th grade, but they’ve also been to about every event we’ve done in those 7 years too. 

Parker has debated in more than 300 debates over seven years, attending tournaments in seven states, averaging more than 40 debates per year since 6th grade. Parker, whose career started at DC International, was our Keoni Scott-Reid High School Debater of the Year last season. 

Partner Henry Blanc hasn’t remotely been around as long (nobody has, Parker has the league all-time participation record), but he’s made good use of the time he’s had. Henry did innovative research on Christian Nationalism last year, and likely would have qualified to Middle School Nationals if he was in the country. Now, as a freshman, he’s ridden the fast track all the way to Nationals. 

William and James Neuroth have both brought home enough piles of trophies to cause storage issues since they started debating in 6th and 4th grade, respectively. Finally, they’re on the same team, and at the same level. It’s been a big problem for their opponents, as they’ve had a great season, advancing to elimination rounds at most regionals this year. They’ve been only one of the many sibling partnerships that we’ve seen proliferate this season. William, who qualified last year, becomes one of the few students in WUDL history to qualify in repeated years, joining Ernest Ntangu (DuVal), Liv Birnstad (Cap City), and Paola Almendarez and Lola Rogin (DCI). 

This year, we are excited to participate in the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues Debate En Espanol Round Robin. Our representatives for this event will be Yudelkis Castellanos-Lima and Diana Ramirez of Forest Park. Just back from their first regional competition at Harvard University, the team is excited for this new challenge. 

These teams are exemplar representatives of the greater Washington Urban Debate League community, and will be supported by a vigorous team of supporters at Emory University this April, including WUDL Staff David Trigaux and Mac Clabaugh, Walls Coach Eric Clarke, Forest Park Coach Forest Gertin, College Park Academy Coach Dennis Martinez, there to support our Debate En Espanol Entries, and Roosevelt Coach Aisha Bah, who has been hired by the tournament.