Apr 16, 2024 At 12:29 PM EDT
After three long days of debate, Amanti Washington, junior, and Bianca Perkins, senior, could finally relax.
Washington and Perkins of Kenwood Academy High School in Chicago were crowned champions at the 2024 Urban Debate National Championship in Evanston, Illinois, on April 14.
Kenwood won a tough debate against Huntington Park's Daniel Medina and Desiree Delgadillo from Los Angeles Metro Debate League (LAMDL), in a 4-1 decision Sunday.
"I think everything this season has led up to this point and this ultimate conclusion," said Perkins, who is considering going to the University of San Diego next fall.
Washington added that the debate season has been "exhausting" but enjoyable.
"My season started out pretty well," Washington said. "I ended up doing really well at the [national] tournament and that set the stage for my run."
Kenwood, the third seed in the tournament, was undefeated in the preliminary rounds, beat a team from Sacramento in the Octofinals, a fellow Chicago Debates team in the quarterfinals and the defending UDNC champions from Port of Los Angeles High School in the semifinals. In last year's UDNC, Washington, debating with a different partner, lost to Port of L.A. in the Octofinals.
Washington and Perkins were also named the second and 10th top speakers of the tournament, respectively.
"I feel like we both have something that the other one lacks and it's just really great to be friends with each other in and out of the debate," Perkins added.
After winning the title, the Kenwood team spoke with Newsweek about their partnership, their performance in the tournament and how debate has helped them find direction and purpose. This interview has been edited and condensed for the sake of length and clarity.
Newsweek: Congratulation on your big win. How does it feel to hold that trophy as the Urban Debate National Champions?
Perkins: It feels kind of bittersweet for me. It's the end of my forever season with debate because I'm a senior and this was my last tournament. So it's good to end on a high note. But it's also kind of sad because debate was so much of my life for so long. I lost my first year of high school to COVID and so immediately after I returned back sophomore year, I sought out community in the debate team. So it's been really transformative for me.
Washington: I don't have an answer as good as that. I was really surprised after everything because Huntington [Park] is a very good team. But I'm glad we did what we needed to do to win. And some of Bianca's stuff really helped us out in the end and I'm really thankful for that.
Both of you were at the UDNC last year but did not debate together. How has it been to come together as a team and how did you form your strategy and debate style for this year's tournament?
Perkins: What makes us a really good team, there [are] a couple of reasons. One, because we're really good friends outside of debate. And so I feel like we understand each other's general communication style just in general everyday life. So it really helps us form that connection to be able to debate together. I feel like we both have good things about each other that the other person lacks—like Amanti really has good technical skills that I never really got and I have a good bigger-picture analysis of a round. Because our type of debate is definitely, on both sides, very storytelling-based and very based in ideas.
Coming into the tournament, what were your main goals and expectations?
Washington: I expected to win. Not to be vain. I expected exactly what the finals would be and I thought we would [win]. And I think that's really important for people to do, especially coming to activities like these that are more speaking-based, rhetoric-based—you need to know or feel you're going to win in order to be your best self in this space. I think a lot of young debaters really struggle with just having the presence that you're going to win, even if you don't feel like it. Just fake it till you make it.
Can you talk about your league? What makes Chicago Debates so great?
Perkins: Being a part of the Chicago [Debates] is really great. There's always a sense of support, there's always resources, always people to talk to if there's a problem going on in-round. If there's a tech issue, there's always somebody like Chris [Gentry, program manager] or Lucia [Hernandez, Assistant Director of Program] who are there to run things smoothly. I think it's also great because we're always getting emails about judging and being interactive with the community even when we're not debating, which I think is so important. To bring people back [to the UDL] and create space that's kind of a cycle of support for people coming in [to the league] and people leaving.
How has debate impacted you?
Perkins: I actually wrote my college essay on how debate has helped me grow as a person and [gain] empathy outside of a debate round. Just learning teamwork and how to work with another person in high-stress situations really helps with communication and being open about how you're feeling—because sometimes the way you interact with each other in debate rounds can spill over into the way you feel about somebody outside of a debate round and you feel about life outside a debate round. So I think debate has been really good in helping me build the communication skills and the advocacy skills to be able to speak openly for myself.
Washington: [Debate] has been really helpful. I've always been the type to argue, I've always enjoyed arguing. But this has kind of helped me foster it into something productive. And the research skills—I'm in AP seminar and we have to do a lot of research and stuff, and sometimes the debate research helps me out with that class, specifically the race-based literature because the class has a focus on African diaspora.
What is next for both of you? And what lessons are you going to take away from this experience?
Perkins: As I mentioned, this was my last tournament ever, so I am definitely going to take a lot of debate with me. Even though I don't really plan on debating in college, I do plan on taking the research and the advocacy skills that I learned in debate with me. I know I said I am going to the University of San Diego, but I am currently still undecided—that's my top choice. I plan on being a psych major. I want to help people out and I think debate is really fundamentally about advocating for people.
Washington: For me, I do want to debate in college, but I'm still deciding because debate in college is very, very hard. But after that, I think I want to be a teacher. A lot of people in debate do end up becoming teachers because they want to help people learn the stuff they learned. [I will take away] the advocacy skills and what [Perkins is] talking about, people who help advocate for others; that's really been impactful on us because Joyce [Harduvel, Kenwood's debate coach], for instance, is also a social worker and she's trying to get her law degree to better help people.
Can you talk more about your coaches and how they've helped you through the years?
Perkins: I have a lot of love in my heart for Joyce and Ms. McSager. They've always been the foundation of the debate team. We're a crazy bunch of unorganized children and they've always been right there to help pull us together and help provide us with support and just always being there, always willing to spend even those five extra minutes after practice is supposed to end to just be there for us.
And I've definitely been inspired by Joyce to pursue psychology. She's a big inspiration to me because she was always talking to us about her experience being in debate. I think it's really important, that cyclical aspect of always giving back and providing resources.
Amanti, I know you are heading to the Tournament of Champions next weekend to compete with a different partner. How does that feel and what has it been like to prepare for the very different tournaments back-to-back?Washington: I wouldn't say they're two very different [tournaments]—the last couple of rounds we had, we did hit teams who are going to the TOC or had debated on that level before. So I think it's been really good to kind of warm up but it will be extremely exhausting. This month is crazy for me because I'm a junior. Everybody wants stuff done. We just had the SAT, we had everything, this month is horrible. But for the TOC, I don't know what to say. I'm very happy it happened and I hope it works out for us.
Are you hoping to face Huntington Park at the TOC next weekend?Washington: The debate we had here was really fun. Yeah, I'm hoping I [debate against] them. I do like to go against the UDL debaters because they kind of get where we're from. But then again, it's also sad. We had to hit Northside in [UDNC quarterfinals] and that was sad, having to send them home, so I hope we hit each other in [preliminary rounds] and not [elimination rounds].
