BRONX, NEW YORK — Early on the morning of October 13th, 2006, seven teams of debaters from Forest Park, City, Carver, Douglass, Freedom, and Patterson boarded the Greyhound Bus to New York with their sights set on the Big Bronx national debate tournament. The tournament is held each year at the renowned Bronx High School for the Sciences, and is one of the top tournaments in the country.

The historical events of the trip were yet to unfold, but the energy by the time students reached Manhattan, and were subway bound for the Bronx, predicted success. Enormous amounts of work had been done by students in preparation for this day. The BUDL teams arrived at Bronx Science with little fanfare, though, and unloaded their tubs of evidence. They began to prep while waiting for the 1st round postings. Some of the top high school debate teams in the country were in attendance and the tension was high. Never before had BUDL, as an organization, sent this many teams to a tournament of this caliber. Each win that a BUDL team produced would provide evidence to the inhabitants of the national debate scene that Baltimore had truly arrived on the national scene.

And the Baltimore teams did just that. With debates often flying along at speeds incomprehensible to the average citizen, with arguments on such weighty topics as biopower, indigenous rights, capitalism, literacy, and hegemony, Baltimore teams were able to rack up 14 wins with impressive speaker points. Heads were turning as if a big new family were moving in on the block. Baltimore had certainly entered the national debate circuit, and many of the best teams in the country left with new arguments to prepare for the next national tournament, lest they lose on them again.

After preliminary rounds, it was clear that Baltimore was in the house, but the clearest statement that BUDL teams are a new force to be reckoned with came during the announcements of speaker awards. In a field of over 200 of the best debaters in the United States, Hong Mei Pang of Patterson High School won 2nd place speaker, narrowly missing the top honors of the entire tournament, and beating out a whole field of favorites.

Baltimore debate is certainly on the path to national prominence. Congratulations to all seven teams which competed in the Big Bronx tournament. To come into the first big national tournament of the year with such success clearly predicts an ability to become a prominent player in this high stakes debate community.

The following students participated in the Big Bronx tournament:

City College (Denaya Barnes, Shannon Harris)

Douglass EJ (Ignacio Evans, Jermol Jupiter)

Forest Park MA (Benjamen Morgan, Bridgett Allen)

Forest Park JA (Joseph Jackson, Briona Allen)

Freedom GR (Brion Gill, Leon Ramsey)

Patterson PE (Hong Me Pang, Michael Ebert)

Carver PS (Nicholas Pilger, Charles Stanley)