A Harris County Department of Education funded program called CASE Debates  culminated its second year at the 2019 Houston Urban Debate League (HUDL) City Championships held at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse on March 2. Several teams placed first and second and will move on to national competition.

The program operated by the Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment for Kids (CASE for Kids) is an expansion of a program designed by HUDL to serve Houston Independent School District. CASE Debates provides debate for other Harris County school districts, including charter schools. This year the program served 284 students.

The following schools and students will be advancing to national competition. These students also earned scholarships after placing first and second at the city level, underwritten by the family of Benjamin Donald Hatfield and the HUDL Young Professionals Council.

Each first-place winning team receives a “Traveling Trophy” that features their names and school name engraved on a plate along with previous winning teams and schools.  The trophy will stay at their school until the next year’s City Championship.

Policy Debate (Cross Examination) Winners
1st Place
Alief ISD-Kerr High School
Queen Eche and Hillary Nguyen

2nd Place
Harmony Public Schools-Harmony School of Advancement
Khalida Amla and Riley Hardwick

World Schools Debate Winners
1st Place
Alief ISD-Kerr High School
Rahawa Ghebrelul, Bao Nguyen and Catherine Nguyen

2nd Place
Spring ISD-Spring Early College Academy
Bodehousse HoundekonAhmad Howard, Kennedy Scott and Ifeoma Neobolisa