April 18, 2022

Berkley High School Students Win National Urban Debate Title

Congratulations to the Berkley High School Debate Team. Berkley’s Team of Zach Kirkwood and Nina Warrow, placed first in the Urban Debate National Championships Junior Varsity division! The team competed in a hard fought series of verbal battles over the weekend of April 8-11, 2022. Zach and Nina, both juniors, defeated a team from Portland, Oregon’s McDaniel High School on a 3-0 decision of the judges on Monday evening, April 11. The tournament was held virtually, sponsored by the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL).

24 junior varsity and 25 varsity teams from 19 cities across the nation gathered virtually to debate U.S. protection of water resources, the national policy debate topic for 2021-2022.

Two Berkley first year teams, competing in a division designed for both first and second year debaters, qualified for the national championships by placing first and second in the JV division of the Detroit Urban Debate League’s (DUDL) league championship and national qualifier, sponsored virtually under the auspices of Wayne State University on March 4-5, 2022. Wayne State is a major higher education partner of the Detroit Urban Debate League.

Four DUDL teams, two from Berkley, as well as varsity teams from University High School Academy in Southfield and Loyola HS-Detroit, debated virtually from the offices of the Dickinson Wright Law Firm in downtown Detroit.

The BHS team of Ava Cohen and Maddie Watts, a freshman and senior, earned a 5-1 win/loss record in preliminary debates as well as a bye to the quarterfinals, before bowing on a close 2-1 decision. The BHS team of Nina and Zach qualified for the elimination debates with a 4-2 record, then won their octofinal, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds to earn a berth in the finals against top seeded McDaniel HS’s second year debaters.

BHS’s debate program, the first Berkley debate team since the mid-1980s, is coached by Scott Warrow and Bee Smale.