Judge Debates with the Washington Urban Debate

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The Washington Urban Debate League (WUDL) is looking for folks to judge debates between middle and high school students about this year's topic, Criminal Justice Reform. No previous debate experience is necessary, only enthusiasm for working with youth and a willingness to listen and take notes.

We provide a judge training session (held during breakfast) for folks who have never judged or competed in a debate before (no experience necessary). There are also an array of judge training resources on our website:

www.urbandebatewashingtondc.org/volunteer-training-resources

WUDL is a dynamic local non-profit organization that works exclusively with local public school students, especially those serving disadvantaged populations, and hosts the local debate tournament schedule here in D.C. Demand for our program has been overwhelming, we're adding more than 15 new schools this fall alone (despite the pandemic). We need more volunteers to help serve as judges for our tournaments. This is a great volunteer opportunity for you to make a large impact in a short amount of time. Every tournament is the culmination of weeks of preparation for the students, and every new volunteer allows 4 more students to participate.

Copious amounts of peer-reviewed research show that debate is one of the best things a student can do with their time, and we work to make this fun and stimulating activity available to all students, not just those at elite prep schools.

The organization has won a number of awards for its work. In 2018, WUDL was named the Outstanding Urban Debate League of the Year, and as one of the best local non-profits by the D.C. Catalog of Philanthropy. One of our students was named the National Urban Debater of the Year, and we've had two other finalists. WUDL Students are the reigning Middle School National Champions (2019, 2020) the last two years, and our Director was named one of the National After School Association's (NAA) Next Gen Leaders in 2019.