First Chase Urban Debate National Champion Crowned
Lane Tech High School, from the host city of Chicago, won the first Chase Urban Debate National Championship. The championship was hosted by the NAUDL recently at the Northwestern University downtown campus. More>>
Winner of the Top Speaker Award
Central High School Senior Sean Easterwood of Kansas City won the Top Speaker award at the first Chase Urban Debate National Championship. In the process he earned a $2,500 scholarship that he will use to attend the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the fall. The scholarship was provided through the generosity of Holland & Knight LLP. More>>
Melissa Maxcy Wade Named Urban Debate Champion
Melissa Maxcy Wade, M.A., M.T.S., Th.M., has been the Director of Forensics at Emory University since 1972, and is a faculty member in the Division of Educational Studies. She received Emory’s highest faculty honor, the Thomas Jefferson Award, in 2007. More>>
Diana Dunker Named Urban Debate Alumnus of the Year
Diana Dunker debated for Science High School of Newark from 1985-89 during a time when very few urban school debaters competed on the high school national circuit. During her varsity years she and her partner were invited to numerous national round robins and qualified twice for the NFL National Tournament as well as the Tournament of Champions. More>>
Scott Deatherage named Executive Director of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
The Board of Directors of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) has named Dr. Larry Scott Deatherage as its Executive Director. Dr. Deatherage’s appointment concludes a four month nationwide search across the for profit business sector as well as the fields of non-profit administration, public education, and academic debate. More>>
A Letter from the NAUDL Board Chair…
Dear Friends of the NAUDL,
Thanks to you and your support, 2007 has been quite a year.
2008 promises to be even more remarkable. Throughout this newsletter
you will see a number of exciting and promising ventures that we have
either already undertaken or that we will pursue in the coming year.
More>>
The Great Debaters
The
NAUDL is joining forces with The Weinstein Company in cross-promotional
efforts concerning a new film scheduled for release this holiday season
called The Great Debaters. The film has already been nominated
for a Golden Globe award in the category “Best Picture, Drama.” More>>
UDL Success in “Big D”
Launched
this past fall, the newest UDL in the nation is in Dallas, Texas.
The NAUDL is happy to report that the league is off to a fantastic start.
Debate programs were started and are active in 11 Dallas Independent
School District (Dallas ISD) high schools. Five coach and student
seminars have been conducted. Two tournaments have been completed,
with another scheduled in December. And, the number of participating
students doubled from the first tournament to the second. More>>
NAUDL Holds UDL Directors Training Conference
Urban
debate Directors and Advisory Board Members from UDLs that the NAUDL
is either building or helping re-build ("institutionalizing," in the
technical parlance) convened in Chicago earlier this month. The following
urban debate Directors and Advisory Board members participated: Andrew
Brokos from Boston, Kason Kimberly from Dallas, Margaret Lin from Denver,
Christina Bell from Detroit, and Kathy Gregory from St. Louis. Dave
Denomie, the Director of the Milwaukee Urban Debate League, also attended
all sessions of the workshop and substantially contributed to the proceedings.
The Open Society Institute, through a grant the NAUDL received last
year, provided the funding. More>>
Fall Receptions Develop Support for Urban Debate Leagues in Denver, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area
This
fall, the NAUDL hosted a series of receptions to promote support for
urban debate in Denver, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay area.
We convened local school district administrators, educators, attorneys
and local business leaders. The events were held on September
23rd in the Denver home of Roberto and Theresa Corrada; on October 28th
at the Beverly Hills home of Lance Rosenzweig; and on December 2nd in
the San Rafael, CA, home of Darin and Claire Snyder. More>>
NAUDL Announces First Annual Chase Urban Debate National Championship
We
are thrilled to announce that the NAUDL will host the first annual Chase
Urban Debate National Championship in Chicago, Illinois, on April 3-6,
2008. The Championship will bring together approximately 70 outstanding
high school students, accomplished coaches, and dedicated administrators
from nearly 20 Urban Debate Leagues around the country for a weekend
of competition, conferencing, and community. More>>
Stuart Foundation Invests in Urban Debate
in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Areas
The Stuart Foundation recently approved a grant submitted by the NAUDL to support Urban Debate League founding work in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay areas.
The Stuart Foundation is a California-based Foundation dedicated to ensuring that "opportunities and possibilities remain open and available to all young men and women who have high ideals and are willing to make sacrifices for their attainment." The grant will support the NAUDL's efforts to, among other things, engage supporters in each area through a reception, convene stakeholders and nonprofit practitioners to solicit their input, advocate to build school system investment, create a deliberate and thoughtful implementation strategy, and raise awareness about urban debate. More>>
