Qualifying tournaments to the Tournament of Champions are usually held on college campuses, or the leafy acres of private schools. Sometimes, they are held at prominent suburban schools with long histories of debate. 

Many don’t have any participants from majority – minority or Title 1 schools. The Urban Debate Dragon Invitational, however, not only has a majority of its participants representing Urban Debate Leagues, but it is held at a majority – minority, Title 1 school. This is a substantial part of the debate community that deserves representation, and we are proud to diversify the schools that host these competitions and make sure it’s clear that their students belong in these spaces as well. 

We’d like to give a big shout-out to the Columbia Heights Education Campus, or “CHEC” for hosting us this weekend, especially Principal Tukeva, Mr. Odom, and Coaches Ross and Kaysey for their hospitality and organization this weekend. CHEC has been a great partner for 9 years, and is a great place to host a competition! 

We can’t think of a better school to be our representative to the wider debate community when they come to town for this tournament.   

The Results: 

While we didn’t qualify any of our teams to the Tournament of Champions, we did have lots of our own students getting awards at both the JV and Varsity levels, and great competition and fun was had by all. Congrats to the ToC Bid recipients: Newark Science AO, Georgetown Day DX, Brooklyn Tech LJ, and Georgetown Day WR. 

Last year, BASIS DC’s Margaret led the way for the league as a freshman(!), advancing to Octo-Finals. This year, with partner Leah, they advanced to Quarter-Finals, becoming the 5th team in WUDL history to advance to a ToC Bid Round. We always knew this sophomore / junior partnership had lots of potential, but that future might be now. Also advancing to elimination rounds were BASIS DC’s Sitara and Daniella (Octos), who qualified to the ToC last season. Sitara was also the 5th overall speaker.  

We’d like to share a big shoutout to Fenway HM of the Boston Urban Debate League for advancing to Octos as well. Coached by WUDL Alum Liv Birnstad and BDL Alum Mosie Burke, the BDL have been regular guests at the Dragon and we celebrate their success along with our own. 

We had two teams also finish with a winning record, but who didn’t advance to elimination rounds: BASIS DC’s Jack and Royana, who would have advanced if Royana hadn’t missed a round to attend Homecoming, and Walls’ freshmen(!) Evelyn and Marco. 

In the JV Division, half of the teams advancing to elimination rounds were from WUDL! 

DCI’s Claudia and Addie went to their first regional tournament this spring. In their second tournament, they advanced to Semi-Finals as 8th graders(!), as did the BDL’s Ruth Batson. They had lots of company from their own teammates in Quarterfinals, with DCI’s Ryder and Ella advancing to elimination rounds in their first regional competition ever. 

Roosevelt’s Jerry and Sandiyah, in their third tournament, advanced to Quarterfinals, learning a lot as they race to Varsity. Keep an eye on these folks, it took them two months to take their first Ls this year. 

WUDL’s top speaker in the JV division was Louise from Eliot Hine, only in 6th grade(!). With partner Bobby, they advanced to Octo-Finals as well. Also winning speaker awards in JV were Jerry (5th), Claudia (6th), Addie (9th), and Shujaa (Douglass, returning to regional competition after several years off). 

Shout out to Thurgood Marshall for making their season debut, jumping straight into a regional tournament!  

This enormous event wasn’t possible without the WUDL community. All told, 36(!) volunteers judged over the three days of the competition. 

Special shout outs to all the volunteers who judged a full commitment or more into elimination rounds, especially Alex Currie, who judged 9(!) rounds through Semi-Finals. 

Adam White (8), Aisha Bah (7), Alan Coverstone (6), Amanda Kenn (6), Clarke Dickens (6), Eric Clarke (8), Forest Gertin (7), Haven Howard (7), Jose Cantu (6),  Omar Price (6), Tunde Olorunfemi (6), Zara Escobar (7)