By Arielle Stevenson, University Communications and Marketing
In the documentary, Immutable, young students stand at the lectern, notes in hand, laptops and timers at the ready. Some speak so quickly that it’s hard to understand what they’re saying.
These students are making their cases, arguing policy and practicing how to be heard. This is the art of competitive debate.
For David Trigaux, founder of the Washington Urban Debate League (WUDL), watching these students move through their arguments skillfully is the clearest measure of his organization’s success. Since its founding in 2014, WUDL has expanded access to competitive debate—and the benefits of thinking critically and challenging ideas it provides—for students in the greater Washington D.C. area. Many come from public and Title I schools where funds and resources can be limited.
“The great thing about debate is you don’t need helmets or specialized equipment or stadiums,” Trigaux said. “It’s just people.”
David Trigaux with students from WUDL after a competition.
Trigaux’s work in competitive debate traces back to his time at USF St. Petersburg, where he graduated in 2012 with double majors in political science and history, and minors in Spanish and environmental science.
Coming to USF St. Petersburg wasn’t his original plan. After getting waitlisted by several Ivy Leagues, Trigaux applied late to USF St. Petersburg and was accepted. He soon received a call from Thomas Smith, at the time leader of what was then the USF Honors College and now interim regional chancellor of the campus. Trigaux's grades stood out, and Smith invited him to join the Honors College.
“The plan was always to transfer, but then I liked it and wanted to stay,” he said.
What began as a fallback option became the place Trigaux found room to lead, and began building and testing the power of debate.
He had competed in debate previously during his time at St. Petersburg High School’s International Baccalaureate program. But at USF St. Petersburg, he helped create a student debate team from scratch with little funding and no dedicated coach. The experience laid the unintentional groundwork for what would later become WUDL.
“We kind of pieced together a team,” he said. “The collegiate level is incredibly hard, but our team was quite good.”
Competitive debate programs in the South are often well-funded, with dedicated coaches and long-established resources. USF St. Petersburg’s now-defunct debate team was established in 2008 and captained by Trigaux, operating on a shoestring.
He led the team to compete across the country, where they consistently placed in regional finals. In 2011, he received an All-American award from the Cross Examination Debate Association.
Students from Washington D.C.'s Benjamin Banneker High School took home their third Sweepstakes trophy in March.
After graduating from USF, he spent time doing political work in Florida and Washington for a couple of years when a new challenge presented itself. A conversation about the lack of accessible debate programs in the D.C. area pointed him back to the activity that had helped shape his college experience.
“There was this huge lack of debate programs here except for the fabulously wealthy. So I said, ‘Let’s check it out.’ And that was 11 years ago,” Trigaux said.
Since then, the organization has grown into a regional debate network serving over thousands of elementary, middle and high schoolers across 80 programs in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Students who’ve come through the program have gone on to earn college scholarships, compete at the national level and return to support the next generation of debaters.
“Many of them are off doing great things, and they come back and help in large numbers,” he said. “The rate of alumni creation is not keeping up with the rate of recruitment, which is great.”
That growth is part of what drew filmmakers to WUDL. Beginning in 2022, they spent two years observing students navigating the world of competitive debate as part of the documentary film, Immutable. The film follows students from middle to high school as they learn to think critically, challenge their own beliefs and learn to find their voice.
Since its release, the most important review came from the students and families featured.
“The folks who were in the film liked it, which is my standard,” he said.
WUDL continues to grow, recently adding programs in Baltimore and Alexandria, expanding elementary school offerings and building out Spanish-language debate opportunities as the area’s demographics shift.
“It was just me for a while, but we’ve since been able to build out an actual staff,” he said.
For Trigaux, that impact connects back to his time here at USF St. Petersburg, where he first learned what he could build simply from persistence and a willingness to try.