Published in Twin Cities.com Ayaan Natala’s opponent spoke at the ultra-fast clip of experienced debaters. Natala hesitated at the podium. He looked dapper in a suit, “like he was heading to work in corporate America.” Natala wore sweatpants. He consulted a laptop as he spoke. She had scribbled notes on a piece of paper. For some time after her first tournament three years ago, Natala, now a junior on Central

From — The Line The small group of inner city kids had made it all the way from the Twin Cities to Washington D.C. last April, and they were ready to compete in their first National Urban Debate League tournament. But first, they had a chance to go to Capitol Hill and meet staff from the offices of Senators Klobuchar and Franken. After the handshakes and photo ops, one of

HISTORY AT HARVARD! BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT RECOGNIZES TOP NYC DEBATERS! Our NYC Great Debaters made history at the Harvard Invitational Tournament after defeating the top ranked debate team in the nation to reach the Semifinals of one of the nation’s toughest tournaments – and an invitation to the Tournament of Champions – the nation’s most prestigious debate tournament!  For the first time in history, students from the South Bronx, Queens,

From NAUDL: The NDT National Committee announced 2013 First Round At-Large Bids this past weekend and among the U.S.’s top 16 debate teams are six former urban debaters: Ryan Wash (Debate! Kansas City) from Emporia State; Elijah Smith (Jersey Urban Debate League) from Emporia State; Kevin Hirn (Chicago Debate League) from University of Michigan; Rashid Campbell (Bay Area Urban Debate League) from University of Oklahoma; and Damiyr Davis (New York

This study investigates the relationship between participating in a high school debate program on college-readiness in the Chicago Public School district over a 10-year period. At-risk school students were identified using an index including 8th grade achievement, poverty status, and enrollment in special education. Regression analyses were used to assess the association between debate participation and graduation and ACT performance. Overall, debaters were 3.1 times more likely to graduate from