The final round came down to a razor thin decision in favor of Dikshant Malla and Sophie Bauerschmidt-Sweeny from Baltimore City College High School, who defeated Christian Palacios and John Vitzileos from Whitney Young High School, Chicago, IL on a 2-1 decision. A group of college debate champions and policy experts from the Washington, DC area judged the final round. The NAUDL 2013 tournament was an exciting and very closely matched competition.
More than 400 supporters of urban debate came together to celebrate the success of the championship qualified teams and their urban debate leagues at the NAUDL's Sixth Annual Dinner on April 18th. Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder of the Children's Defense Fund gave a rousing keynote speech. She praised the young debaters and celebrated debate's extraordinary "lifelong gifts." BNSF Railway Company's CEO and Chairman Matt Rose received the 2013 NAUDL Outstanding Leader Award.
On Friday, April 19th, two outstanding urban debate teams, Fatah Adan and Elvis Alvarado from Boston's New Mission High School and Takia Al-Bari and Tyree Williams from Detroit's Cass Technical High School competed in The Great Transportation Debate, a public debate held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. A panel of experts from the transportation sector, public and private, as well as business leaders, attorneys, and former champion debaters judged the debate. Both teams offered excellent arguments with a final decision in favor of the negative team from Detroit.
We are grateful for the generous support we received from key leaders in the U.S. Transportation Infrastructure industry, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the Association of American Railroads, Ryder Systems, Inc. and Wal-mart Stores, Inc. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of White & Case LLP for underwriting the Top Team Award and to friends of Ken Hersh for providing the 2013 Top Speaker Award in his honor. Finally, we thank Georgetown University for hosting the tournament on campus.
