Urban Debate Goes to the Oval Office

I reported back in June that for the first time ever an Urban Debate League team won the National Forensics League Grand Tournament, the largest of three high school debate national championship events. The Chicago Debate League, with the help of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, was able to parlay that into an opportunity to meet the president and other notable lawmakers, many of them former debaters themselves! Pictured here are the championship team of Misael Gonzalez and Kevin Hirn, flanking the president, plus the other two top speakers at the Chase Urban Debate National Championship and several urban debate leaders from around the country. Brag: the men at either end of the group are both on my WSOP e-mail list, meaning that they are early readers of the material that becomes my 2+2 Magazine trip reports.