The DKC City Championship was held on January 10th and 11th on the campus of UMKC and the Lincoln Prep debate team stole the show. They swept all three divisions of policy debate and the team of Monica Medeiros and Ellen Baker took first place in varsity for the third straight year, earning their third bid to the Urban Debate Nationals in Los Angeles, California this April.
However, the City Champs and the success of Lincoln Prep came on the cusp of tragedy. Aaron Thomas, a DKC graduate and Lincoln Prep assistant coach, was killed in a car wreck on New Year’s day. His funeral was held the day before the City Champs and many members of the DKC family were in attendance. Aaron debated for Central during some of their most successful years and won numerous awards during his career. Aaron had volunteered with DKC ever since graduating high school, debated at Kansas City Kansas Community College and was set to graduate Rockhurst in May with a Bachelor’s degree.
Prior to the awards ceremony DKC honored Aaron with remarks from his Central coach Jane Rinehart, fellow teammate Shawnee Brunson and his old debate partner Matheno Frazier-Bey, who took the train all the way from Baltimore. Aaron Thomas was remembered for how much he genuinely cared about people, his heart melting smile and his never-ending desire to learn. Before trophies were handed out the room gave Aaron a standing ovation and those who loved him most reminded everyone that the best way to honor Aaron was to keep debating.
The loss of such an amazing DKC graduate certainly cast a shadow over the weekend, but that did not prevent hard fought debate rounds from occurring as students vied to be named champions of the city. Over fifty students from ten schools and two states competed with a bid to Urban Debate Nationals on the line. Lincoln Prep ended up winning all three policy divisions and earning the bid to Nationals for the sixth consecutive year. Sumner, University Academy and Washington all broke teams to elimination debates. A full list of winners is below.
Full Tournament Results
Novice Teams
- Lincoln Prep, Cheyenne Clopton and Tasjia Thomas
- Lincoln Prep, Alex Thompson and Sakina Bhatti
- University Academy, Brandon Fields and Kent Crockett
- Washington High School, Nick Schwab and Josh Strammel
Regular Teams
- Lincoln Prep, Bianca Harvey and Anna Crawford
- Sumner Academy, Ajhanae Franklin and Dru Demby
Varsity Teams
- Lincoln Prep, Ellen Baker and Monica Medeiros
- Lincoln Prep, Anisa Nash and Chebet Buckner
Novice Speakers
- University Academy, Brandon Fields
- Lincoln Prep, Cheyenne Clopton
- Wyandotte High School, Alayah Womack
- University Academy, Mia Scott
- Patton Junior High, Chayne Dessaso
Regular Speakers
- Lincoln Prep, Melina Richardson
- Lincoln Prep, Anna Crawford
- Sumner Academy, Brandon Bush
Varsity Speakers
- Sumner Academy, Michael Franklin
- Lincoln Prep, Monica Medeiros
- Lincoln Prep, Ellen Baker
- Lincoln Prep, Phillip Nguyen
- Wyandotte High School, Gary Bradley-Lopez
DKC held the middle school arm of the City Championship this April the results of that competition are below:
Top 20 Middle School Congress
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy, Dena Newborn
- Arrowhead Middle, Tkhara Jones
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy,Logan Bates
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy, Marques Johnson
- Foreign Language Academy, William White
- Sumner Academy, Adriana Suarez
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy, Tylecia Wiley
- Smith Hale Middle, Yusuf Khan
- Turner Middle, Rosa Reyes
- Arrowhead Middle, Katie Hogue
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy, Erika Scott
- Foreign Language Academy, Hennery Valdivia
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy, Mariyah Haliburton
- Center Middle, Xander Hacking
- Turner Middle, Ethan Maxey
- Coronado Middle, Anthony Lasley
- Sumner Academy, Leon Brown
- Smith-Hale Middle, Andrew Frazier
- Foreign Language Academy, Jesus Campos
- Arrowhead Middle Ashanti Goodlow
Top Novice Middle School Teams
- Barstow School, Zoe Brous and Emma Jenkins
- Barstow School, Aasim Hawa and Miles Luce
- Kauffman School, Ian Rowse and Donovan Herron
- Barstow School, Mimi Wright and Surbhee Patil
Top 10 Novice Middle School Speakers
- Barstow School, Emma Jenkins
- Kauffman School, Donovan Herron
- Barstow Schoo, Zoe Brous
- Barstow School, Aasim Hawa
- Arrowhead Middle School, Phillip Hayes
- Alta-Vista Middle School, Jeseka McDaniel
- Barstow School Miles Luce
- Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy, Dacoda Sublett
- Turner Middle School, Anthony Quiroga
- Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy, Xavier Hinton
Top Varsity Middle School Teams
- Barstow School, Shaunak Lokre and Taha Fanaswala
- Barstow School, Hannah Tadros and Julia Butch
- Barstow School, Kristin Tingle and Tyler Durwood
- Foreign Language Academy, Monica Bates and Aaron (Max) Baker
Top Varsity Middle School Speakers
- Barstow School, Taha Fanaswala
- Barstow School, Kristin Tingle
- Barstow School, Tyler Durwood
- Foreign Language Academy, Aaron (Max) Baker
- Foreign Language Academy, Andrew Valdivia
Sweepstakes
- Lee A Tolbert Community Academy
- Foreign Language Academy
- Barstow School
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