Student News & Events

WUDL ES Program Grows Again in Spring 2025 John Francis may not have won all of the competitive trophies, but they’ve got some great team shirts! The beauty of elementary school debate is where students are in their growth and development. They’re incredibly creative, and are too young to know that some of their “impossible” […]

WUDL Returns to Tournament of Champions Messai, David, Margaret, Jack, and Mac at the Tournament of Champions 2025 It’s starting to look like WUDL has figured out how to qualify sophomores to the Tournament of Champions.  Like their teammates Daniella and Sitara last year, Margaret and Jack didn’t start the year intending to be partners.

WUDL Advances to Elimination Rounds @ Urban Debate National Championship! WUDL’s contingent at Nationals 2025: Dennis, Mac, Henry, Aisha, David, Lauren, Yudelkis, Eric, Diana, Forrest, Parker, James, and William Wandering around the rolling hills and beautiful spring flowers of Emory University, WUDL’s representatives couldn’t have taken more divergent paths to get there.  William Neuroth attended

WUDL Wins Middle School Nationals! WUDL Middle School Nationals Qualifiers 2025: Claudia, Louise, Addie, Zeve, Bobby, Jack, Fiona, Ian, Marshall (remote on day one, Isabelle), with last year’s champ Evelyn to help coach and judge! This past weekend, Washington Urban Debate League students faced off with the best and brightest students from across the nation’s

WUDL End of Year Awards: Coaches Coach Gleeson Young of John Francis Education Campus Coach Wilfred Sekajipo of Academy of Health Sciences  Coach of the Year: Gleeson Young (John Francis Education Campus)  Gleeson almost still fits as a new coach, having started the John Francis team while they were still called Francis-Stevens in Spring 2024.

WUDL Hosts Two Tournaments in March, Wrapping Up Season Oyster Adams Bilingual School took a team shot while waiting for the awards ceremony @ Cardozo. WUDL hosted two tournaments in March, one originally scheduled for January but snowed out, and our usual March Madness. These tournaments were instrumental in deciding the End of Year awards,

WUDL Student Choice Awards 2025 Coaches Gibian, McKinley, and Stockburger led a first year MacFarland team to a great debut, with a large and growing squad that consistently won awards at each tournament. 8th graders Norman and Nichole even threw their hat in the ring for Middle School Nationals, and were invited to attend as

Sitara Mazumdar Named Keoni Scott-Reid High School Debater of the Year, + Other Student Awards Sitara started debating during COVID and won Middle School Nationals. She’s earned 3 ToC bids, won a regional, volunteers for EVERYTHING, and has already pulled together an incredibly creative advocacy for next season. Keoni Scott-Reid High School Debater of the

WUDL End of Year Awards: Banneker Reclaims Sweepstakes Cup + Other Team Awards Khalil, Juniper, Zoe, Lisbeth, Leah, Madison, Parker, and Rohan show off the WUDL Sweepstakes Cup at Regionals this past weekend. They are only a few of the 37 debaters that contributed to this great season If you look closely at the WUDL

2nd Annual Adam J. Rubinson Memorial Qualifier Largest WUDL Tournament Ever Chris and Judah (DuVal High School) are leading the resurgence of the DuVal Debate Team, which is back to entering teams in every division, and winning awards in most of them. They went undefeated in JV, their first time in the division. Between Christmas