Coach of the Year: Forest Gertin, (Forest Park Academy)
Forest has gone above and beyond for his team again and again. Last year, the squad was quite small, and only won a few rounds all season. This year, Forest has substantially increased the size of the squad, so Forest Park was fielding competitive teams in all three divisions by the end of the season. His top students are doing creative research and speaking about issues important to them with a powerful critique of the Military Industrial Complex. The way that he works with his debaters encourages self-sufficiency and growth, and the loyalty and respect he’s engendered, are palpable 

He’s built support in his building, with four different teachers coming to help judge and serve as assistant coaches this year, and got the school to support additional travel opportunities for his students to the Harvard and Emory National Tournaments. When transportation issues were going to scuttle his team’s ability to compete, he put up a substantial sum of his own cash, with only a hope of reimbursement, to make sure that they won’t be left at home, unable to participate. 

 New Coach of the Year: Rafia Rifa (Thurgood Marshall Academy)

Rafia was sent to a training mid-summer for a program that she didn’t know much about. As the only new coach at our Coaches Workshop this summer, we had to do some pull asides so that we could introduce debate properly, without getting ahead of ourselves to the advanced materials that some returning coaches were eager to hear. 

Despite this inauspicious start, and several assistant coaches coming in and out during the school year, Rafia stood strong, recruiting a great cadre of students, both under and upper classmen, and getting them all to attend almost every tournament. They quickly started dominating the Novice Division, and I told Rafia that we’d love to get one of her teams to a regional competition in February. With several good teams to choose from, she was in an enviable position, and we were glad to bring Thurgood to Pennsbury in February. We moved several teams up to JV, where Junior Neveah won several awards at the last tournament. 

Beyond her team’s success, Rafia stood out as being both highly organized, and very curious to improve. She asks good questions, is eager to jump in and learn more (including attend a travel tournament and judge elimination rounds in her first year coaching). Her ambition is to double the size of the team next year, getting at least 12 kids to go to summer camp and become one of the league’s powerhouses as soon as next season. 

Shout out to Coach Fletcher at Hart Middle School, our runner up. She’s started a great squad at a school that’s never had a team before, and hosted a great tournament in January!

Further Shout Out to Coaches Eleanor Corcoran and Starr Rhee at Girls Global Academy — as a finalists for the National Debate Coach of the Year, they weren’t  eligible for these awards. 

Volunteer of the Year: Dennis Martinez  

Dennis is the second WUDL Alumni to be named Volunteer of the Year. 

Chosen by a vote of our students (and heartily supported by our staff), Dennis has contributed in a wide range of ways this year. First, he’s the first volunteer to coach two(!) schools in the same season, College Park Academy, and Columbia Heights. Both teams have succeeded, with Columbia Heights’ small but mighty team advancing to JV in their first year back, and College Park’s team tripled in size and experiencing substantial success in Varsity and at Regional Tournaments. Dennis has supported his team and others at several Travel Team competitions, served as a lab leader for many of our Middle School National Qualifiers this past summer at the Matthew Harris Ornstein Summer Debate Institute, and is now running our Debate En Espanol preparations. 

As a debater, Dennis was the captain at Northwestern High School, where he was an accomplished debater at the local and regional level. A gifted researcher, he represented the WUDL at the Urban Debate National Tournament during the pandemic, where he was the 4th overall seed, and 5th place individual speaker. He pioneered our Debate En Espanol program, winning the Harvard Tournament’s Debate En Espanol division his senior year. 

He attend the University of Maryland, where he studies Economics.