Keoni Scott-Reid High School Debater of the Year: KesUraNu Baylor (Roosevelt)

If you are looking for a young person who embodies the spirit of a good debater, look no further than Keoni Scott-Reid. He was one of the first WUDL debaters, holds most of the “firsts” in the league record book, winning every award available at the time. He was a leader in the community, an innovative scholar, and an inspirational coach. He tragically passed away in 2019, and we’ve re-named this award in his memory. 

KesUraNu is this year’s winner, best representing Keoni’s competitive excellence, innovative scholarship, leadership, and character. A debater since Middle School at Dora Kennedy, Ranu is now the Co-Captain at Roosevelt High School, where he leads a strong team across all three divisions. He always finds innovative arguments and had won a lot of competitive awards (despite often having to debate alone). He is the first to help his fellow community members, and represented the league at a public debate this year that drew a national audience, discussing social media reforms. He’ll be an excellent coach upon graduation, just like Keoni. 

Middle School Debater of theYear: Ayisha Rodriguez-Akande (College Park)

Ayisha went to one tournament her 6th grade year, and wasn’t sure that debate was for her, especially in an virtual environment. Nevertheless, she decided to give it another try this year, and blossomed into one of the best young scholars in the league. Ayisha took Novice by storm, frequently winning 1st Place Speaker. After a quick promotion to JV, she picked up where she left off, continuing to pace the division in the spring, and winning the JV division at Districts in March. Despite changing coaches and partners mid-season, she didn’t miss a beat. Her passion and skills are evidence to everyone who meets her, and we hope she can build upon this great season and represent us at Middle School Nationals in 2023!

New Debater of the Year: Olu Adejumo (Frederick Douglas High School)

Olu started debating this fall, an early recruit for Frederick Douglas, who had a strong Varsity squad but not a lot of other debaters. While the partners changed (or didn’t show up), Olu’s success didn’t. By mid-season, she was sitting in on Varsity lectures about advanced argument structures and frequently took home the Top Speaker and/or First Place in the JV division. We look forward to her leading a new generation of debaters at Douglas this coming season! 

WUDL Student Choice Awards: High School Debater of the Year: Tatum Primus (Benjamin Banneker) 

Last year’s Student Choice Middle School Debater of the Year, Tatum continued to be a leader in the community and a competitive force to be reckoned with. Tatum, who wants to become a lawyer and attend Harvard University, is on her way to getting considered for a scholarship for her debating prowess, attending regional tournaments as a freshman. Together with fellow freshman Madison McCauley, Tatum has brought Banneker High School back to being one of the teams to beat in Varsity and has a very bright debate career ahead of her. 

WUDL Student Choice Awards: Middle School Debater of the Year: William Neuroth (Stuart Hobson)

William Neuroth was a huge slouch during the COVID-19 pandemic. With partner Aidan Sokolov, he managed to qualify for Middle School Nationals, and win the National Championship as a 7th grader. This year, he almost repeated the same feat with a new partner, Percy Kyd-Bruneau, finishing as Semi-Finalists, eliminated by fellow WUDL Debaters Violet and Sitara from BASIS DC, who went on to win the competition. William was one of our most innovative scholars this year, working with Coach Caliguire to delve into graduate school level environmental philosophy and advocating for a re-orientation of our relationship to nature….in 8th grade. We look forward to working with you as you continue your career at School Without Walls. 

Judge’s Choice Award: Nathaniel Banjo (Charles Flowers)

Last summer, Nathaniel was a freshman who had been to a few tournaments and might head to JV in the Fall. Instead, he partnered with Senior Emmanuel Makinde, attended 6 weeks of debate camp over the summer, and jumped straight to Varsity. Nathaniel learned on the fly, keeping up with a much more experienced partner all season and in the second semester, started to pass him in speaker awards at some tournaments. Nathaniel was hungry for competition, attending extra tournaments as the virtual world allowed, 16 in total (the average in the league was about 4). His competitive exploits took him “to” California, where they ended up as Semi-Finalists at a large national competition, to the Urban Debate National Championship, where he won a speaker award and finished as Quarter-Finalists, and to the Mountain West All-Star Round Robin, where they finished 3rd. Beyond his competitive exploits, Nathaniel picked up new information quickly, running cases about issues as diverse as run-off from factory farms to structural Anti-Blackness. He’s now stepped up as a leader and the new captain of the Charles Flowers team, recruiting a number of new students to summer camp to rebuild the team’s ranks. 

Shoutout to National Urban Debater of the Year Finalist Emmanuel Makinde (Charles Flowers), who wasn’t eligible for any local awards due to his national recognition, but who certainly would have been a highly competitive candidate if eligible. Good luck at NYU next year!

Stay tuned for more write ups about our End of Year Awards later this week!