THE GREAT DEBATERS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

"Be Great! Be a Great Debater!"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THE 2014 DEBATE SEASON BEGINS!

New York City Urban Debate League at the White House!
NYC Debater Tyler Anderson (last student on the right, ACORN HS) Wins 1st Place in the Nation!

Happy New Year Everyone! We want to thank everyone for your generous support in 2013. Your donations and support are critical to not only keeping the city's debate league alive, but expanding our league so that EVERY school and EVERY student has access to the best debate education opportunities. Thanks to your support we had a historic 2013 debate season! Our debaters and coaches were honored at the White House (three times!) Our debaters won top awards at every debate tournament (Harvard University, Dartmouth University, Wake Forest University, Boston, Texas, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and every other tournament). Our debaters were featured in the News (Daily News, Fox News, NY 1, BronxNet, Public Radio, El Diario, Amsterdam News, and more!). Our coaches, teachers, volunteers, alumni and students made history by starting the nation's first all girls debate league, elementary school debate league and camp, and the longest debate camp in the nation! Our debaters were honored by the New York City Council, New York State Legislature and Borough Presidents! The New York State Legislature even passed a bill to honor the accomplishments of our debaters!

But the most significant achievement is the revolution in access to debate opportunities in the city - the most powerful academic program since Socrates and Ancient Greece. Over one thousand students and over one hundred schools are now participating in our debate education programs and that number will only continue to exponentially grow with your support.

So thank you for a wonderful 2013 debate season and cheers to a historic 2014 Debate Season. Thank You Everyone for your support. And if you were not able to donate in 2013 - its never too late - click here to support our Great Debaters! And for anyone interested in volunteering and judging at our debate tournaments in 2014, please sign up on our online judging form by clicking here! Our next tournament is Saturday, January 11th. Thank You and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Erik Fogel, Director

Website: www.nycudl.org

Debate Camp Website: www.nycdebatecamp.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nycudl

Twitter: #nycdebateleague

Email: nycudl@gmail.com

Phone: 917-455-1079

Be Great! Be a Great Debater!

Support Our City's Debate League!

Click here to learn more about supporting our Great Debaters and our city's debate league for all ages.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!

PARENTS! TEACHERS! COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS! HIGH SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS!

CLICK HERE TO JUDGE AT OUR JANUARY TOURNAMENTS!

Help make a difference in our community

and become a Debate Judge!

WEEKLY NYC DEBATE NEWS

Celebrating the academic achievements

of NYC youth every week.


NEW YORK CITY URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE FEATURED IN TEACH FOR AMERICA'S "ONE" ALUMNI MAGAZINE! Teach for America (TFA) is one of the largest education reform movements in America with a mission that ALL children to have the opportunity to an excellent education. In its Fall 2013 edition, TFA highlighted the work of the New York City Urban Debate League in addressing educational inequity in New York City. Our mission is that ALL students should have access to debate education opportunities. Debate since Ancient Greece and Socrates has been the most rigorous academic program. Click here for the full article! See page 13, "The Great Debaters."	NEW YORK CITY MIDDLE SCHOOL DEBATE TOURNAMENT #4 NEXT SATURDAY! TWO LOCATIONS! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! The 2014 Debate Season Begins!!!! New York City Middle School Debate Tournament #4 will be held January 11th at two locations! The Parliamentary Debate Tournament and Elementary Tournament will be hosted by One World Middle School in the Bronx. And the Public Forum Debate Tournament and Policy Debate Tournament will be hosted by the Institute for Collaborative Education in Manhattan! Thank you for everyone making #4 possible - Ben Crossan, Tyler Beattie, Samantha Katz, Frank Zhao, Christinia Bermudez, Tiara Moultrie, Peter Berard, AND ALL OUR VOLUNTEER JUDGES AND TOURNAMENT VOLUNTEERS! And if you haven't signed up to judge for next Saturday or the rest of the 2014 season, please visit our online judge form! THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR GREAT DEBATERS!	BRONX SCHOOL FOR LAW, GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE DEBATERS - CHARLES ATHANASOPOLOUS AND GEORDANO LIRIANO INVITED TO BOTH THE EMORY UNIVERSITY ROUND ROBIN AND THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY ROUND ROBIN! So if you haven't met these two debaters or watched them debate... you must! Historic accomplishments. They are in their senior year. #1 Ranked team in the nation! Debated and won tournaments since the 7th grade! Most accomplished debaters in the history of the South Bronx! Fundraised on their own to attend all the top national tournaments (and you can still support them by clicking here!). And this year have been invited to every national round robin across the nation! "Round Robins" are invitation only tournaments to the top ten teams in the nation. So congratulations and good luck to Charles, Geo and Coach Rashad at Emory University!


HOLLAND FAMILY LEGACY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY The Holland Family Legacy Foundation has established the Richard Holland Memorial Scholarship to be awarded annually to a chosen qualified applicant. This $2500 scholarship, renewable for up to three additional years, honors the legacy of Richard Holland-his passion for helping people while enjoying life. Applications are accepted now through March 15. http://www.rjhollandscholarship.org/	FALL 2013 NEW YORK CITY DEBATE PARTICIPATION DATA! Our mission is that every school should have a debate team and every student should have access to the best debate education opportunities. We are proud to announce our Fall 2013 data for debate participation! 851 students competed in 1,789 debates during 11 tournaments. Thank you to Board Member Stefan Bauchard for compiling all our 2013 data! And that's just the beginning! Cheers to all our 2013 debaters, coaches, teachers, principals, students, families and volunteers! And Welcome to the 2014 Debate Season!	THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH TO ALL OUR DONORS IN 2013! We could not have a debate league for the city without your support. We wanted to thank everyone for donating in 2013 and our end of the year campaign. We had a magical turnout of support at the end of the year - so thank you everyone for investing in our Great Debaters! Click here to visit our NYC Debate Donor Hall of Fame!

UPCOMING LOCAL TOURNAMENTS

All students should have the opportunity

to be Great Debaters.

New York City Middle School/Elementary School Debate Tournament #4

January 11th!

Our fourth Middle School/Elementary School Tournament will be held on January 11th at TWO LOCATIONS! The Public Forum Debate Tournament and Policy Debate Tournament will be held at the Institute for Collaborative Education, 345 E. 15th Street, NY, NY 10003. The Parliamentary Debate Tournament and the Elementary School Tournament will be held at One World Middle School, 3750 Baychester Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10466. Schools need to register online at www.speechwire.com for either tournament. We need judge volunteers so click here to sign up! Debate Topics and Debate Resources are available on our Weekly Coaches Google Groups Email Blasts.

New York City High School Debate Tournament #3 January 25th!

Policy Debate! Public Forum Debate! Lincoln Douglas Debate! Our high school tournament will be held at the Institute for Collaborative Education, 345 E. 15th Street, NY, NY 10003. We should be transitioning to www.tabroom.com this time for registration, so stay tuned for registration details which should be sent out this week! And we always need volunteer judges for our high school tournaments, so please click here to sign up! Thanks!

UPCOMING REGIONAL

AND NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS!

All students should have access to the most rigorous academic opportunities.

January 17th-20th

Big Lexington

Debate Tournament in Massachusetts!

Save the Date! January 17th-20th! Our Travel Team competes at Lexington High School at the Big Lexington Tournament. Lexington High School hosts two of the top tournaments on the East Coast - "Little Lex" and "Big Lex." Big Lex is a qualifier for the prestigious Tournament of Champions. Click here to learn more about Big Lex!

Local debate tournaments are only the beginning! On any given weekend there are local, regional, state, and national tournaments! This makes debate the most rigorous academic program hands down! You wont find any other academic program with as many academic competitions. Click here to learn more about the Travel Team or visit us at http://www.nycudl.org/#!travel-team/c1asw.

LEGAL EDUCATION FOR ALL PROJECT

All youth should have access to the best law education opportunities. LEAP (Legal Education for all Project) is the city's only program to bring law education opportunities to every student, every school and every grade in NYC.


Legal Career Nights! The critical problem is that law schools and the law profession do not reflect the diversity of the American population. Our mission is to change these statistics by introducing ALL students to careers in law. Our debate and legal education programs are New York's largest effort to address the law diversity pipeline. Every month we bring together NYC youth and the NYC legal community to celebrate careers in law. This month we thank Kirkland and Ellis for hosting our debaters to learn about careers in law. And thank you to the incredible staff and Diversity Committee of Kirkland & Ellis including Jennifer Schiavone, Melinda Alankar Atif Khawaia, Jennifer Schiavone, Adam Stern, Maria Davalos and many more! Thank you!	Legal Debate Topic - The Supreme Court and Individual Rights! Each month, NYC students across all grade levels engage in debate, discussion, research and critical inquiry of different legal topics. Last month our law debate topic was on Attorney Client Privilege. "Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, truth-seeking ought to take precedence over attorney-client privilege." Next month our Public Forum Debate Topic Area is on the Supreme Court and Individual Rights. "Resolved: The Supreme Court rightly decided the Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act violated the Constitution." Our middle school and high school debaters will be researching, writing, and debating that topic for the next two months. And thank you to all our partners from the legal and debate communities for providing so many resources and experts on these topics!	Legal Skills 101: Cross Examination You don't need to be a lawyer to have legal skills. Our mission is that all students should have access to law education opportunities. Legal skills - writing, researching, critical thinking, public speaking, questioning - to name a few - are essential skills for all students and all adults. This month's legal skill topic is on the Art of Cross Examination. Whether a debater, a lawyer, or simply questioning a colleague or a family member - questioning is an art form. Click here for Debate Camp (www.nycdebatecamp.org) lecture on the "Art of Cross Examination." Our top debate and law coaches address the skills of a questioner as well as the respondent and use a fun, interactive presentation of cross examination video clips from the Cookie Monster to Star Wars to Madea goes to Jail!

NYC COMMUNITY DEBATE NIGHTS!

All students should have the best civics education.

January 29th

Martin Luther King Jr.

Debate Invitational

at Kirkland & Ellis LLP!

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King. Jr's "I Have a Dream Speech." Every January the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a day dedicated to service. This January we are proud to announce New York's first Martin Luther King Jr. Debate Invitational in partnership with the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis. Debate topics for the day include philosophy debates on Civil Disobedience, public policy debates on the Dream Act and the Voting Rights Act, and parliamentary debates on national service and Martin Luther King Jr. Thank you Kirkland and Ellis for starting this historical partnership to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., celebrate the power of law and advocacy to change the world to make it a better place, and providing the best law related education opportunities to NYC Youth.

February 4th

Debate Night at Macquarie!

Macquarie is a pre-eminent provider of financial services with over 70 offices throughout the world. We are looking forward to a partnership with Macquarie to bring the best financial literacy and economic education opportunities to NYC youth. This year's policy debate topic is Latin American economics and our middle school and high school policy debaters are engaged in a year round study of Latin American economics. And during the month of April - Financial Literacy Month - all our debaters will be studying economics. Not to mention the fact that financial literacy topics are found in every debate topic! And so we are very honored to partner up with Macquarie and their infinite resources in financial and economic literacy for our students!

OUR NYC DEBATE LEAGUE PROGRAMS

NEW YORK CITY'S MOST RIGOROUS ACADEMIC PROGRAM - EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEKEND, EVERY SUMMER - YEAR ROUND.


High School Debate League UPCOMING DATES! January 25th: Tournament #3 @ The Institute for Collaborative Education HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE LEAGUE RESOURCES High School Tournament Calendar. Click here. High School Travel Team Tournament Calendar. Click here. High School National Circuit Team Click here. High School Policy Debate Resources. Click here. High School Public Forum Debate Resources.Click here. High School Lincoln Douglas Debate Resources. Click here. Contact us for any help! Click here. or nycudl@gmail.com	Middle School Debate League UPCOMING DATES! January 11th: Public Forum Debate Tournament & Policy Debate Tournament #4 @ The Institute for Collaborative Education January 11th: Parliamentary Debate Tournament @ One World Middle School MIDDLE SCHOOL DEBATE LEAGUE RESOURCES Middle School Tournament Calendar. Click here. Middle School Policy Debate Resources. Click here. Middle School Public Forum Debate Resources. Click here. Middle School Parliamentary Debate Resources. Click here. Contact us for any help! Click here. or nycudl@gmail.com	Elementary School Debate League UPCOMING DATES! January 11th: Tournament #4 @ One World Middle School ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DEBATE LEAGUE RESOURCES Elementary School Tournament Calendar. Click here. Elementary School Debate Resources. Click here. Contact us for any help! Click here. or nycudl@gmail.com

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