Recapping the 2009 NAUDL Annual Dinner
Concurrent with the 2009 Chase Urban Debate National Championship, the NAUDL hosted its second Annual Dinner on April 25. Over 300 supporters and guests joined the NAUDL at the historically reconstructed Stock Exchange Trading Room at the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago. These attendees met students and teachers, learned more about urban debate, and celebrated the achievements of the students and teachers from across the Urban Debate Network.
The evening began with a VIP reception at the Chicago Symphony Center for the NAUDL's strongest supporters. All guests then met with urban debate students, teachers, and administrators at an Art Institute reception, followed by the National Championship's Awards Ceremony. Supporters saw firsthand the brightest competitors in urban debate.
The 2009 Keynote Address was delivered by David Boies, founding partner and Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. Mr. Boies is a former high school and college debater and has taken part in many of the United States' most influential and noteworthy cases, including Vice President Al Gore's legal challenges of the 2000 Florida election returns before the United States and Florida Supreme Courts. Mr. Boies spoke about the importance of debate and communication in promoting democracy in a civil society. He also shared about the value of his debate experience to his professional work. Without a doubt, it was a message that is echoed in lives of former and current debaters across the country.
Following the Keynote Address, the NAUDL honored as the 2009 Urban Debate Champions Mr. Gara LaMarche and the Open Society Institute, whose original vision for debate in underserved high schools provides the template for the NAUDL's work today. As Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute (OSI) from 1996 to 2007, Mr. LaMarche played a major role in creating the Urban Debate Network. OSI's original Urban Debate Program, launched in 1997 under the direction of Mr. LaMarche, brought policy debate to traditionally underserved high schools, and provided the template for the NAUDL's work today. Mr. LaMarche is currently President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies.
In accepting the Urban Debate Champion award, he shared his own experience with debate and his original vision for the creation of the Urban Debate Network. His speech inspired the audience and reminded us all of what brings us to this work.
Finally, the NAUDL recognized Dr. Tracy Carson, a Chicago native, as the Urban Debate Alumnus of the Year. Dr. Carson, an alumnus of the Chicago Debate League, debated for Morgan Park High School and later for Northwestern University as an undergraduate. She received her Doctorate at Oxford University through a Marshall Scholarship and lectured at the University of Fort Hare in East London, South Africa on a Fulbright Scholarship. Reflecting on her debate career, Dr. Carson says that "my experience in urban debate was vital to my academic, intellectual, and even social development."
The NAUDL thanks the many generous sponsors who made the 2009 Annual Dinner a huge success. We look forward to converting that investment into access to debate for many more cities, schools, and students in the coming year.
For a recap of the 2008 Annual Dinner, click here.
