WUDL is an education first organization. The research behind Urban Debate shows that participation, not wins and loses, develops academic skills, social-emotional growth, and civic engagement. 

This time of year, however, we do like to recognize competitive excellence as we nominate folks to attend the various national tournaments: 

High School: Urban Debate National Championship 

March 30th – April 2nd, Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

WUDL has been improving most years we attend the UDNC, including last year, when BASIS DC’s O’Sullivan/Durand and Charles Flower’s Banjo/Makinde both finished as Quarter-Finalists, both league firsts. 

Capital City: Birnstad / Villaflor

Birnstad and Villaflor aren’t strangers to the limelight. Birnstad and their former partner, Clarke Dickens (now at UPenn), represented WUDL as alternates in the first year of the pandemic when we competed in pods, with Birnstad winning an individual speaker award as a sophomore. Birnstad was our New Debater of the Year as a freshman, and won the Matthew Harris Ornstein Outstanding Debater Award this past summer. Villaflor has been on WUDL’s Travel Team since 8th grade, advancing to elimination rounds as an 8th grader pre-pandemic at numerous JV tournaments and losing the final round of Middle School Nationals 2020 to Inspired Teaching. Together, they’ve been hunting for bids to the TOC, getting close at the Dragon and at Lexington.   

School Without Walls: Balk / Mallia

Balk and Mallia were very excited to qualify, not only for the accomplishment, but because they also used to go to Capital City in Middle School, and are close friends with Birnstad / Villaflor. The boys have also been on the WUDL Travel Team since 8th grade, and have both debated with Villaflor at regional and national tournaments (including Semi-Finals of Mamaroneck 2019, Mallia / Villaflor, and Middle School Nationals 2020, Balk / Villaflor, where Mallia was an Octo-Finalist with another partner). They have been our most consistent Varsity performers over the last two years, and have definitely earned this spot through consistent excellence. 

Middle School: Urban Debate Middle School Nationals

Online

WUDL has won Middle School Nationals 4 years in a row (Kenmoor 2019, Inspired Teaching 2020, Stuart Hobson 2021, and BASIS DC 2022). These fine qualifiers are all up to the task of defending this title. This group has more regional tournament experience than most years, as the re-building travel team has allowed some great opportunities for our younger competitors. 

BASIS DC Applegate / Gerety

This pair of second year debaters were novices to start the year, but quickly ready to grow out of that. They challenged themselves by climbing up divisions, then attending regional competitions in Boston and Philadelphia this Spring. They’ve put these opportunities to good use, honing their skills and improving quickly to be among the more surprising (though very deserving) qualifiers. 

BASIS DC Boehm / Greaves

When we thought about who was going to step up and be some of our strongest middle school debaters at summer camp, this pair was always in the conversation. Somehow, they still overachieved our expectations, redefining what middle school teams could do. They jumped in feet first to regional competitions, and while they were out of their depth at GDS this October in a Varsity tournament, Greaves, debating as a maverick, advanced to elimination rounds at the Dragon in JV. They then went 3-3 in Varsity at Mamaroneck, forced up by the elimination of the JV division at that tournament. While they haven’t quite replicated that achievement since, they are a strong, Varsity caliber team that is a lot younger than you think. 

Hardy: Troutman-Ritchey / Tesfaye

Troutman-Ritchey / Pessey was our first alternate to Middle School Nationals last year, and were understandable disappointed not to advance. With Pessey now in high school, I told Jack to pick the smartest person in the school he could talk into being his partner and spend the first semester training them up to attempt to qualify again. Tesfaye had been to 12 debates total before we took them on the regional circuit, and while many of those rounds didn’t go their way, they did qualify this year and are in a strong position to represent the league. They’ll look to surpass Hardy’s school record at the tournament, where Krevat/Tracy advanced to Quarter-Finals in 2019 (and Hardy also hosted the tournament). 

Hobson: Sullivan / Webster

WUDL launched a pilot program to encourage elementary school students to debate and join their middle school teams. Started in the Stuart Hobson feeder pattern, the program has paid immediate dividends to recruit and inspire young debaters. Last year, Webster / McNamara almost qualified for Nationals as 6th graders, coming out of that ES program. They were on the fast track to qualify this year,  advancing to the semi-finals of the JV division at the Dragon in November as 7th graders. A mid-season partner switch had them playing catch up a bit, with Sullivan jumped straight up from Novice and gamely jumped into highly competitive debate. She deserved enormous credit for catching up quickly and even was the Top Speaker at the 2nd half of the qualifier. They will be leaders for the league’s middle school program next year as well. 

Oyster Adams: Berndt / Goldblatt

Goldblatt / Leonard represented WUDL at this tournament the last two years, reaching the Octo-Finals in 2021. The torch has been passed, and Goldblatt/Berndt have been a strong pair all season. Both have shown impressive accomplishments, both together and when they’ve had to maverick, like Berndt at the Dragon, and Goldblatt at a recent local, where he won the JV division despite being younger than the average competition, and debating alone. Next year, Berndt will take the torch and be the team leader, but they have some unfinished business this year first. 

Montgomery Village: Solomon / Pishva

Montgomery Village has represented the WUDL at Middle School Nationals for several years, but the team essentially had to start from scratch this year. It didn’t slow down their students though. While COVID-19 prevented Pishva from attending the first half of the qualifier (and several other tournaments), this team is young, hungy, and