I am excited to share the teams that will represent the Washington Urban Debate League at the Urban Debate National Championships this year:
New for 2022, the UDNC is offering a JV division, so we’ve selected two teams to participate with long track-records of strong performance in JV this year as well. We hope to integrate this division into our qualifying process in future years.
In Varsity:
Basis DC: Senior Alexander O’Sullivan and Junior Noemie Durand
Alexander and Noemie lost one round last year (to Flowers, if I’m not mistaken) as they cruised through Novice and JV, collecting trophies aplenty along the way during their first year of debate. This year, they took their craft to Varsity and fit in quickly, attending regional competitions and collecting some swag there as well. They’re a team nobody wants to debate, as they keep learning more and more about debate and their own skills with every round. They’re noted for their persuasive abilities, able to push through the nonsense and clearly explain what’s important in each round.
Charles Flowers High School: Senior Emmanuel Makinde and Sophomore Nathaniel Banjo
Emmanuel and Nathaniel have been one of the teams to beat this year, placing at every local tournament (usually in 1st), and competing extensively on the national circuit. Emmanuel has brought home some personal hardware this season, including the 2021 Matthew Harris Ornstein Outstanding Debater Award Winner and a Finalist for National Debater of the Year. Together, they’ve been equally impressive, highlighted by a Semi-Finals finish at the UC Santa Clara / John Lewis Invitational over the Winter. Emmanuel and Nathaniel are hard workers, always writing new arguments and innovating.
In JV:
CMIT Academy North: Juniors Dailyn Wray and Precious Sobowale
The other 2nd year team to blow everyone away during COVID Debate times, CMIT has a number of impressive debaters, but none more-so than Dailyn and Precious. They’ve won a lot of trophies locally, and challenged themselves to improve, gone outside their comfort zone to attend regional competitions and see what the next level of competition looks like. They are great at doing case specific preparations against their opponents.
Phelps Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) High School: Sophomores Haven Howard and Ayotunde Ejiko
Despite Phelps being one of our longest tenured teams, Sophomores Ayo and Haven hold a lot of competitive records at Phelps, including the best record, the best and most speaker awards, and the most tournaments attended. When not debating with novices as mentors, these two have been one of the teams to beat in JV, and stand out for their creativity, always coming up with something that their opponents don’t expect.
