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 the tournament last season (his partner Zahra last season just got a full ride offer to attend and debate for Emory University herself). He had winning records at regional tournaments as a freshman, won Middle School Nationals as a 7th grader and was in deep elimination rounds as an 8th grader. Over the last three years, he’s been to elimination rounds with 5 different partners, including being the first at his school to advance to a ToC Qualifying round. He’s been in highly competitive rounds for 5 years, and has won more than he hasn’t. 

Little brother James started debating in Elementary School, and has been chomping at the bit to do more debate ever since 4th grade. He had a very competitive Middle School debate career, including becoming the 2nd Neuroth to win Middle School Nationals last season. Now, he’s finally caught up to big brother William in both height and debate skills, they’ve been the tip of the spear of a whole host of sibling partnerships that have had great seasons across WUDL this year. 

Parker has debated more than anyone else in WUDL history, leading Banneker back to the promised land and a Sweepstakes Cup victory this season. Parker is a leader, who has always been a good debater, but not always the “team to beat” when it comes to trophies. Nevertheless, they got hot at the right time, and won the rounds they needed head to head to qualify. They showed their veteran savvy during round 2, where they faced the eventual tournament champions from Kenwood. Kenwood has unnerved their 1st round opponents, asking challenging questions about race which Parker handled with ease. While they lost the round, they gave one of the best teams in the nation as good as they got. 

Henry started debate late in 6th grade, then jumped in fast, pulled up to debate with a cadre of boys doing great research at Hardy, but then missed his second semester last year living abroad. Once the partnership carousel at Banneker settled down, he rode a strong work ethic and a lot of enthusiasm to balance Parker’s experience all the way to Nationals. 

Diana Ramirez and Yudelkis Castellanos-Lima of Forest Park also represented WUDL this year, our inaugural representatives to the Debate en Espanol Round Robin. They are intrepid 1st year debaters who have excelled in both English and Spanish. Their deliberations and preparations for the tournament were impressive as they quickly pushed boundaries and created norms for a new forum of debate. Their advocacy for more equity and rigor during the debrief was equally impressive. We think they got 3rd place overall, though the formal results haven’t been released yet. 

School Without Walls — Neuroth^2 continued WUDL’s streak of advancing to elimination rounds, while Parker and Henry went 3-3, failing to advance on speaker points. 

Shout outs:

• NAUDL’s annual dinner was fantastic, with strong speakers, good company and an incredible location at the Georgia Aquarium. 
• Alums Eric Clarke, Aisha Bah, and Dennis Martinez came to help coach the teams and as judges for the tournament. 
• Forrest Gertin, McAlister Clabaugh, and Lauren Ivey, for joining us as coaches, judges, mentors, and meal acquisition specialists to make the tournament run smoothly! 

See you next year at Harvard!