Over 70 BAUDL youth debated at the March Madness Tournament last Saturday.

Last Saturday, dozens of BAUDL youth participated in the March Madness Tournament at the June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco. The tournament served as an opportunity for the BAUDL youth to practice their debate skills and hone their arguments in preparation for the State Qualifying Tournament, which will be on March 17 at Santa Rosa High School.

Our debaters learned a lot at the tournament and had a lot of fun! The debates were marked by intensity and the rounds were close, but all the winning teams went undefeated in their divisions.

The Varsity rounds were extremely competitive, but Greg Belvin and Zach Seidl of Skyline High School out-debated their competition and went undefeated, winning the Varsity Division. Also, Kim Mejia-Cuellar of Fremont High School won top speaker in the Varsity Division for her excellent debates.

The JV rounds also saw their share of intensity as well. Shah Turner and Neil Wessling of Skyline High School went undefeated and won the division; Shah Turner won top speaker for his stellar performance.

In the Novice rounds, Bobbie Mille and Michelle Thomas of Castlemont High School swept their competitors and, after going undefeated, won their division as well. However, Kenneth Chappell of the June Jordan School for Equity won top speaker.

Congratulations to all our winners and everyone who debated on Saturday! You all rocked it!

Thank you to everyone who came out and devoted their time to make this tournament possible — we appreciate you more than you know!

The BAUDL would like to give a special thanks to June Jordan School for Equity and City Arts and Technology for being so generous with providing us the space to debate. Without your generosity, none of this would have been possible.

The tournament was amazing! We can’t wait to see how our debaters do at the State Qualifying Tournament next weekend!