“It was really an equity issue honestly.” 

Boston Debate League Assistant Program Director Roger Nix, looking back on why this tournament was created in the first place, reflected that many of the middle school students we serve are doing amazing scholarship and working really hard, but lacked the culminative experience of a UDL friendly national tournament at the end of the year, a chance to get to meet other students from across the country learning about the same issues and having the same experiences as you have.

Five years later, the tournament is still going strong. The Annual Urban Debate Middle School National Tournament brings together students, grades 6-8, who have excelled at debate in their respective Urban Debate Leagues all season and qualified to represent their leagues at this prestigious national competition. The competition has grown more robust, and the competitors are more skilled every year, a testament to the hard work and dedication of young people nationwide and some great support from their UDL teams.

WUDL sent six teams to represent the league:

• BASIS DC: Greta / Alexandra
• BASIS DC: Susie / Margaret
• Montgomery Village: Sadra / Yonathan
• Oyster Adams: Elena / Symon
• Stuart Hobson: Evelyn / Anna
• Hardy Middle School:  Jack / Amra

These teams have all displayed growth and competitive excellence throughout the season and are great community members to represent the WUDL. Some have been to the tournament before, like Symon from Oyster Adams, a 3 time qualifier, competing this time with a new partner, while the rest are all first time qualifiers. Some have been to competitive regional tournaments before with the WUDL Travel Team, like Oyster, Hardy, and BASIS, while others have not.

After the dust settled on preliminary rounds, WUDL students had a great day, not losing to anyone outside of the league. All six teams advanced to elimination rounds, something WUDL has never pulled off before, even the first year. 

BASIS’s Greta and Alex defeated a team from Miami before facing off against teammates Susie and Margaret, who had defeated a team from Tulsa, in the Semi-Finals. 

WUDL faced WUDL as Stuart Hobson’s Evelyn and Anna defeated Montgomery Village’s Sadra and Yonathan in the Quarters, and Hardy’s Jack and Amra defeated Symon and Elena from Oyster Adams. 

The Semi-Finals were an all-WUDL affair, with Susie and Margaret advancing from the BASIS – BASIS round, and Stuart Hobson’s Evelyn and Anna advancing against Hardy. 

The throw down in Finals consisted of a debate about the role of the United States in the world — should the US and NATO shift our militaries towards renewable biofuels and combat climate change. 

Like most of the rounds in this competition, the level of scholarship and poise demonstrated on both sides was far beyond the debaters’ years and comparable with many regional high school tournaments we’ve attended. Cases included discussions of crypto-currency, international finance, and sanctions avoidance, cybersecurity for military assets, and competition for tech leadership with China, conversations occurring with much less sophistication in the halls of Congress today. 

Speaker Awards:

• Top Speaker: Anna, Stuart Hobson
• 2nd Speaker: Greta, BASIS DC
• 3rd Speaker: Evelyn, Stuart Hobson
• 4th Speaker: Sadra, Montgomery Village
• 5th Speaker: Jack, Hardy
• 6th Speaker: Symon, Oyster Adams
• 8th Speaker: Elena, Oyster Adams

Shout outs:

• BDL Staff Roger Nix and Josh Dixon for co-directing and tabbing the tournament. As always, the BDL are wonderful partners.
• WUDL Staff McAlister Clabaugh, and especially Danielle Dupree for leading our prep sessions
• Coaches / volunteers Liv Birnstad, Jess Berenson, Jonathan Gonzalez, Katie Proch, Eric Clarke, Clarke Dickens, Letitia Haffner, Zara Escobar, Messai Yigeltu, Jon Alfuth, and Cesar Fortuna for being great judges, coaches, and supporters.