Mario and Luigi, consulting with a pirate before a debate against Taylor Swift and Spongebob, gathered around a cauldron and getting advice from a witch. Cartman versus a giant pickle. 

The WUDL Halloween Classic is always an exciting opportunity to see some unusual matchups, and for kids to have fun! Most debate tournaments encourage students to wear suits and focus on the competition, but we take a bit different approach that focuses on fun, community, and the students’ ideas, not just on how polished they are saying them (and expecting folks to wear suits is not an equitable practice). 

As usual, many thanks to Capital City for hosting, they always are great hosts. 

The highlights:

In Varsity: 

Balk / Mallia (Walls) reminded everyone why they represented us at Nationals last year, coasting to an undefeated 1st place showing. 

They emerged over a robust competitive field, one of the largest we’ve had in years. They just edged out Mazumdar/Choi from BASIS, with teams from Banneker, Stuart Hobson, BASIS DC, and Phelps as 3-1 teams. 

Shout out to Frederick Douglas’s Adejumo as 5th speaker, the school’s best Varsity award yet. 

In JV: 

In their 1st JV tournament, BASIS DC’s Sehgal and Schmidt went undefeated and won 1st place. They’re on the fast track to Varsity, having yet to lose a debate this year. Schmidt was also the top Speaker. Hobson’s Levett / Ozturk also went undefeated and aren’t far behind them. 

It was a vigorous competition, with teams from College Park, Alice Deal, Hobson, DCI, Hardy, and Girls Global all 3-1. 

In Novice: 

The division is so big, we had a number of undefeated teams, led by Alice Deal’s Kahl/Gesheikter and Eliot Hine’s Pratt/Wozniak. 

Shout out to Frederick Douglas’s Jones for his second straight top speaker award. 

In rookie: 

Stuart Hobson’s Ordonez / Knowles and Montgomery Village’s Safo / Zareen went undefeated, leading the division, while Kettering’s Arielle Jean was the top speaker. 

Shout out to Excel Academy for making a great debut and for winning their first rounds!