URBAN DEBATE
Fall 2011
From our Executive Director, Linda Listrom
There’s already a chill in the air here in Chicago – a timely reminder that our hard-working urban debate teams are back in school and back in session. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our league directors and volunteer coaches, hundreds of students across the country are coming into the 2011-2012 debate season well prepared. Our newsletter features just a few of the summer debate program highlights. We welcome our three newest League Directors and introduce two energetic new NAUDL staffers. We’re delighted to announce the 2012 Annual Dinner and Urban Debate National Championship will be held in Washington, DC, April 12-15 – just in time for the cherry blossoms! Lastly, I invite you to mark your calendar to join me for the NAUDL Strategic Plan Webinar on December 1, 2011. The new Strategic Plan details the NAUDL’s three-year plan to expand and enhance the visibility and sustainability of urban debate programs across the U.S. In the spirit of the season's resolution, I wish you and your teams a successful launch to the 2012 tournament season!
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2012 Urban Debate National Championship, Washington, DC This year’s Urban Debate National Championship will be held in the nation’s capital and coincides with the Centennial National Cherry Blossom Festival. Our weekend in DC kicks off Thursday, April 12th, with the NAUDL Annual Dinner at the Four Seasons with distinguished guest speakers Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, and Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA. Friday morning, the Great Space Debate, a public debate featuring top-ranked urban debaters, will take place at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. National Championship rounds will be held Saturday and Sunday at Georgetown University. Watch the NAUDL home page for more details.
Urban Debate at the Aspen Ideas Festival
Two Chicago Debate League alumni were the youngest speakers at the Aspen Ideas Festival held in July in Aspen, CO. College debate scholarship recipients Josh Rivera and Muriel Dorsey presented a short public debate moderated by former debater and current contributing editor Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic. In her opening remarks, Michele Coleman Mayes, General Counsel at Allstate, presented a powerful case for the impact of urban debate in creating opportunities for successful academic outcomes and professional careers. Watch the full presentation here. |
Save the Date! Upcoming Events Support a Local League |
Meet Our New UDL Directors
Houston:
The Houston Urban Debate League welcomes Anthony Jardina as its new Executive Director. Mr. Jardina brings a wealth of debate experience to the HUDL, as a high school and college champion debater and a championship-winning urban debate coach. Prior to joining the HUDL, Mr. Jardina worked for the NAUDL. Read the
news release here.
Chicago:
Edie Canter has joined the Chicago Debate Commission as its Executive Director. Ms. Canter was previously Director of Development and Communications at Leadership Greater Chicago, as well as the principal of Persuasion Plus and Law Offices of Edith F. Canter.
Milwaukee:
Joni Chmiel is excited to lead the Milwaukee Debate League as its new Executive Director. Ms. Chmiel is a program development expert with 14 years of nonprofit leadership experience. She recently managed the sports and teen programs for 11 YMCA Centers in the Milwaukee area that serve over 11,000 youth, teens and adults annually.
Around the Leagues
Atlanta:
Students from the Atlanta Urban Debate League were among the participants at the Emory National Debate Institute this summer. The students lived on the Emory campus and spent their time researching the 2012 debate resolution in preparation for a final tournament on July 22nd.
Bay Area:
The San Francisco Chronicle recently featured a front page interview with BAUDL debater Gregory Belvin III. Belvin shares his first-hand insights into the life-changing benefits of participating in urban debate. "The way you excel and get glory even socially should be, and can be, from your intelligence and your eloquence," he said. "Debate has been a channel to power for affluent young people for decades and decades and decades. We're opening that channel." Read the full story.
Boston:
On July 28, students from the Boston Debate League presented a public debate at the National Urban League Youth Leadership Summit for more than 300 students and their chaparones. The BDL debaters received "rock star" treatment after the session, meeting students in the audience and posing for pictures.
Houston:
This summer, more than 200 Houston Urban Debate League camp attendees attended a very special “launch” of the 2011-12 debate season. Led by Charlie Chafer, HUDL President-Elect and CEO, Space Services, Inc., the HUDL joined with the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy to present Space Policy Day. Astronauts Scott J. Kelly (photo left) and Nicole P. Stott were among the guest speakers. HUDL students participated in lively Q&A sessions throughout the day. View a webcast of the full day’s presentations, courtesy of the Baker Institute.
In the News
Debate skills ranked high in the recently issued A Framework for K-12 Science Education. The recommendations from a committee of the National Academies of Science identify "key scientific practices, concepts and ideas that all students should learn by the time they complete high school.” In an interview featured in Symmetry Magazine, Committee Chair, theoretical physicist and SLAC Professor Emeritus Helen Quinn (photo right) discusses the report’s recommendations for some new approaches to teaching science. “For example engaging students seriously in arguing from evidence – so students are the ones drawing the conclusions and saying how does this evidence support or not support a particular explanation that was given for what’s going on.”
A recent article in Education Week, “Achievement Gap,” with updated statistics and a cogent analysis of the achievement gap, adds fodder to the already strong case for Urban Debate Value. The article says, "While National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results show that, over time, black and Hispanic students have made great strides in improving performance in reading and mathematics, a breach still separated them from their white peers." With continued national focus on narrowing the Achievement Gap, there is an opportunity to promote the benefits of urban debate and its positive influence on academic performance and college matriculation rates.
Abramson's Unsaid Supports the NAUDL
Former debater and NAUDL supporter Neil Abramson is helping to promote urban debate through his new novel, Unsaid. For every book purchased through a referral from the NAUDL, Mr. Abramson has agreed to donate $2.00, his proceeds on the sale.
Help support urban debate today with your purchase from Amazon or your favorite bookstore. To credit your purchase to the NAUDL, send an e-mail to Unsaid@urbandebate.org.
News at the NAUDL
Shiyin Wang, the NAUDL’s Director of External Relations recently relocated to San Francisco, CA. Shiyin will continue to work part-time with the NAUDL on key projects through the end of 2012. Mandela Okere left the NAUDL in July to pursue a Master's in Teaching at Depaul University. We wish them both continued success in their new endeavors!
Joining the NAUDL as Development and Communications Manager is Kerri Allen. Kerri brings more than ten years of nonprofit marketing and communications experience to her new role, as well as expertise in sales and business development. She looks forward to assisting the leagues with their marketing, communications and fundraising activities.
Laura Wright joins the NAUDL as Office Manager and Executive Assistant. Laura serves as the first point of contact for the NAUDL and administrative go-to girl. Her professional experience includes a research analyst position at Cedar Management Consulting and office management roles with financial services company BC Ziegler and Company.
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