The similarities between "The Great Debaters" story line and Bethune-Cookman's 1951 debate against Oxford University aren't the only local connection to the new movie. Denzel Washington, who stars in the film he also directed, has his own Daytona Beach connection. He attended Mainland High School in during the 1970-71 school year when his family lived in Daytona Beach. Washington was far from the silver screen star of today at the time, according to his account in a 1999 television interview in which he admitted to being painfully shy in high school. "There was a girl in my class (at Mainland), Deborah Hill," he said. "I used to follow this girl. I would make sure I was in the spot where I knew she had to go through to get to her class. But when she came by, I wouldn't say anything."