DEBATE-Kansas City students had an excellent showing at the Urban Debate National Championships April 12th-14th, bringing home top honors.
In the high school division, Gabriela Perez-Garcia and Neymara Freeman of Sumner Academy of Excellence and Sophie French and Zoey Pratt-Phillips of Lincoln College Prep competed against a pool of the best urban debate teams in the country. With six preliminary rounds determining who would compete in elimination rounds for the championship title, both teams held their own as the duo from Lincoln Prep racked in some late round wins and Sumner Academy made it to the octafinals. Sumner fell in octafinals, but not before making history, as Neymara Freeman took home the honor of top speaker at the tournament. A student from DKC had not won the award since the very first Urban Debate National Tournament in 2009 when Central Academy alumni Sean Easterwood won the honor.
Adjacent to the high school tournament was the very first Middle School Urban Debate National Tournament. University Academy sent four students, William Workuff, William Udo, Briana Tolbert, and Alesia McFadden to compete. Winning many awards throughout the season, University Academy was primed to make a huge run at the inaugural national tournament. Both teams finished with winning records, and Alesia McFadden etched her name into the history books as she won 6th speaker award at the tournament.
DKC has entered its 20th year with much to celebrate making even more history along the way. To hear more about this history making weekend, check out the link below to an interview of the Sumner duo by KCUR program Central Standard.
https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-city-kansas-high-school-student-one-nations-best-debaters#stream/0
And to hear many more stories of student success while celebrating our 20th year, be sure to attend our 20th Anniversary Celebration June 29th. For more information, check out our website and Facebook page.
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