WUDL Winter Classic Provides Final Tune-Up Before National Qualifiers

Cardozo's Debate Team formed the first week of November, and went to their first tournament two weeks later, with both teams winning a round. This weekend, three weeks later, Roxana / Steven (above) and Elijah / Evelyn went 2-1. They now are preparing to compete to represent WUDL at Nationals En Espanol at Emory University in April.

While many students had already tuned out for Winter Break, more than 200 students postponed their holidays and joined us for the last tournament of 2024. 

We’d like to give to big shoutouts: 

1. To WUDL Alumni — with most of our regular college students back at home (elsewhere) post exams, and many regular volunteers already gone for the holidays, Alums home from college stepped up. Thank you to: Aisha Bah, Liv Birnstad, Jalen Bryan, Eric Clarke, Dennis Martinez, Chloe Mshana, Hallie Munsat, Michelle Njoku, Tunde Olorunfemi, Aniya Peay,  Pernelle De Souza, Aisha Taylor,  and Dailyn Wray. This is easily a record, and we love to see such an expression of community!

2. To John Francis Education Campus — The recently renovated school is a gorgeous host, and was very welcoming to our students. 

Highlights:

 In Varsity: 
  • Fresh off their ToC Qualification, Margaret / Jack (BASIS DC) won the Varsity Division, with Victoria / Anna (Duke Ellington) and Parker / Rohan (Banneker) right behind them. 
  • Shout out to DuVal’s Elizabeth / Aida for winning their school’s 1st Varsity trophies of the season. 
  • Further shout out to Eliot Hine’s Louise as the 5th overall speaker. Louise, in 6th grade, already made league history for the league’s youngest speaker award at a regional tournament in November at The Dragon. 

In JV: 

  • Seneca Valley’s Mathias and Ayaan were the only undefeated team, a great signal that they should wander into Varsity for qualifiers and shake things up! 
  • WUDL Director David Trigaux got to judge his first local rounds of the year, and was excited to see 3rd place Forest Park’s Marcus and Kobe and 4th place Claire / Ayisha of Academy of Health Sciences, who defeated 8th place Serenity / ChiChi (Flowers) and 9th place Reagan / Prince (Hobson), respectively. 
  • Also shout out to Sebastian / Madison (Roosevelt) in 2nd place / op speakers, Kaleb / Leia (Thurgood Marshall, 5th), Amira / Madison (Duke Ellington, 6th), and Andrew /Aaron (Flowers, 7th). 
In Novice: 
  • Huge Shoutouts to the 7 undefeated teams in Novice: Elsinore / Asha (DC International), Berrin / Alexander (Oyster Adams), Kimberly / Hannah (Academy of Health Sciences), Jadon / David (Roosevelt), Isaiah / Christopher (DuVal), Norman and Nicolle (MacFarland), Murray (BASIS DC)
  • Congrats to Cardozo’s Roxana and Steven for winning their school’s first trophies in several years (and Elijah / Evelyn who were also 2-1)
  • Welcome to Bladensburg High School (Fidel and partner Micah (Duke Ellington) had the school’s first winning record) 
In Rookie: 
  • Congrats to the 7 undefeated teams in the Rookie Division: Daniel / Louella (Eliot Hine), Russell / Keyla (Inspired Teaching), Blessing / Elijah (Kettering), Theo / Phoebe (Eliot Hine), JoJo / Dasia (Hobson), Melina / Itoroobong (Kettering), and Bilal / Perry (Hobson) 
  • Welcome to KIPP DC Shaw and debaters Kalhajie / Morgan, who debuted to a trophy! 
  • Home Court Advantage: Yakin / Kiersten, Kai / Chloe, and Nabil / Mattias of John Francis all won awards, 8th – 10th, plus 3rd, 5th, and 6th speakers. 
Get excited for National Qualifiers starting in January at Cardozo! 
 
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Coach Gleeson Young of John Francis EC, our host this weekend, won 9 trophies!
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Parker holds the 4th Varsity Speaker award, and WUDL's all time participation records -- more than 282 rounds across 7 years of debate
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Top Novice Speaker Precious of Academy of Health Sciences is one of their team's many trophy winners
Tunde and Madison
Alumni Tunde hands out trophy to Duke Ellington's Madison, a rising star who has consistently won awards in JV this semester