THE GREAT DEBATERS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
"Be Great! Be a Great Debater!"
MDI
THE MANHATTAN
SUMMER DEBATE INSTITUTE BEGINS!

 
This week we celebrate our Manhattan Debate Institute which is our two week summer debate camp at Hunter College.  Over 100 high school and middle school debaters are attending a two week debate camp at Hunter College.  And this coming Monday over 30 elementary school debaters will be joining us as well! 

We thank Hunter College, the Bella Azbug Leadership Institute, the Arthur Rupe Foundation, Fish & Richardson and all our incredible parents, families, students, volunteers and staff for making the Manhattan Summer Debate Program possible for over 100 New York City youth. The typical debate camp costs thousands of dollars, accepts only a limited number of students, and only spans several days. The New York City Urban Debate League flips this model to make debate accessible to ALL STUDENTS, ALL GRADE LEVELS, AND EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.  This summer we host the largest and longest summer debate program in the nation spanning over 8 weeks of debate camp.  As a result we were honored as one of the top after school organizations in the nation by the White House, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the First Lady Michelle Obama.  Click here for the White House Awards Ceremony honoring the New York City Urban Debate League!

So shouts outs to our Manhattan Debate Camp for the next two weeks!  After that - shout outs to our Bronx Debate Camp, Queens Debate Camp, Teachers Debate Camp, and Harlem Debate Camp coming up soon!   Thank you to everyone who have made the Summer of Debate possible! 
 

BE GREAT! BE A GREAT DEBATER!

 
Sincerely, 
Erik Fogel, Director of the New York City Urban Debate League
Website: www.nycudl.org
Debate Camp Website: www.nycdebatecamp.org
Twitter: #nycdebateleague
Email: nycudl@gmail.com
Phone: 917-455-1079

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NYC DEBATE WEEKLY NEWS
Celebrating the incredible achievements of our Great Debaters every week.

USA Debate Team
Girls Debate
Application Deadline for the USA Debate Team Coming Up Soon! 

From more than 130,000 student members of the National Speech & Debate Association, nine outstanding student competitors will make up the 2015 USA Debate team. The American team is composed of students from across the country; together they will complete in a series of debate competitions across the globe from Canada and Slovenia to Thailand and beyond.  Interested students should complete the online application form, including a link to an unlisted You Tube video.  The deadline to apply is August 7, 2014. The selection committee will review the applications and invite select students to participate in web-based interviews in late August. The team will be announced in early September.

Member students who have earned at least 25 points (Degree of Merit) and are attending high school in the U.S. are eligible to apply. Click here to apply!

Debate Closing the Gender Gap in Politics. 

"Participating in competitive activities - such as serving on the debate team - also raised a respondent's likelihood of being interested in running for office by 10 percentage points." 

 

Great news coverage of debate recently. Three weeks ago the Wall Street Journal profiled NYC Urban Debate Coaches bringing middle school debate opportunities to NYC!  Two weeks ago the National Review profiled the impact of urban debate leagues at the high school level.  And last week, an article was published on how debate is one of the solutions to the gender gap of women entering politics.  Click here for the full article.




MANHATTAN DEBATE INSTITUTE BEGINS!!!!!
 
MDI MDI

This Monday the Manhattan Debate Institute (MDI) kicked off with over 100 debaters, volunteers, and staff! We would like to acknowledge and celebrate an amazing staff that makes everything possible! 

 

Alexandra Klein

Alexandra Klein attended Choate Rosemary Hall and will be entering Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations in the fall. Alexandra has been debating for five years and was the captain of Choate's Parliamentary Debate Team where she debated and judged in the Debate Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS). Alexandra has also debated in Public Forum and reached the finals at the Dartmouth Debate Institute. 

 

Aubrey Semple

Aubrey Semple is a debate coach at Brooklyn Technical High School and has been coaching for over seven years at various high schools throughout New York City. Aubrey Semple has coached several championship caliber policy debate teams including NYSDCA State Champions in Novice (2014) and Junior Varsity (2012) and Co-Champions in Varsity Policy Debate (2013). As a coach under Brooklyn Tech, debaters qualified for elimination rounds in nearly every national circuit tournament that Brooklyn Technical attends including becoming co-champions at the New York Invitational at Bronx Science (2013), Quarterfinals at the Harvard Invitational (2013) and qualifying a team to the Tournament of Champions (2014) at the University of Kentucky. Aubrey is an alumnus of the New York City Urban Debate League (2003-2006) and this will be Aubrey's second appearance at CITI Debate Camp since 2008.

 

Pablo Blanco

Pablo Blanco is a junior at Stuyvesant High School, who participates in the activity of policy debate. He has 2 years of High school experience and has participated in several national tournaments. Pablo also dedicates some time to volunteer work and spends time in his school's branch of Aspira. Pablo aims to enrich the debate community and hopes that spending time with the UDL makes that possible.

 

Daniel Gubitosa

Daniel Gubitosa is a sophomore at the George Washington University. Currently enrolled in the School of Business, Daniel hopes to pursue a career in either hospitality management or marketing. Daniel grew up in Manhattan and attended The Cathedral School for elementary school and The Loyola School for High School. Although his knowledge of debate is limited, he hopes to learn a lot this summer as an intern for the summer debate programs. He also enjoys playing basketball in his free time and loves to cook. 

 

Jason Chen

Jason Chen is a rising junior at the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice.  He comes from a family of debaters and is dedicating the summer to interning at the NYCUDL.  Jason is also a member of the ROTC and plans to pursue a career in the military.

 

Kaley Pillinger

Kaley Pillinger is a student at Hunter College High School. She has been debating for three years and has background in both Parliamentary and Public Forum debate. This past year, she won the Newark and Bobcat Invitational tournaments and advanced to elimination rounds at national tournaments such as the Princeton and Harvard Invitationals. She has helped to coach the middle school program in her school and coached at the UDL earlier this summer.

 

Sadie Alperson

Sadie Alperson is a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University planning on majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She was a policy debater at the Bronx High School of Science for four years, competing on the national circuit. As a debater at Bronx Science, Sadie received numerous accolades and speaker awards. She also received a special distinction from the National Forensics League. While she no longer debates in college, she stays active in the community by judging at tournaments during the school year.

 

William Cheung

William Cheung debated for the City University of New York and coaches debate in New York City. As a debater, Cheung has won numerous debate tournaments and has also made it to elimination rounds in the Cross Examination Debate League's national tournament. As a long time coach for Brooklyn Technical High School and the Urban Debate League, Cheung has been involved in successfully coaching teams to national debate tournaments including (as a first for Brooklyn Tech) qualifying for the Tournament of Champions, a major debate event. Using skills learned from debate, Cheung will be going to Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship in the fall to continue his studies in philosophy, communicate across differences, and learn in a novel environment. Cheung's goal when he returns is to ultimately attend graduate school.

 

Katie Vitale

A Teach for America alumna originally from MI, Katie Vitale graduated from Bank Street and Sarah Lawrence with a Masters in Educational Leadership and the Arts, where she wrote her graduate thesis on the holistic benefits of Public Forum Debate.  A 2014 Big Apple Award winner, she teaches ELA and Debate and serves as a Peer Instructional Coach.  Katie is passionate about debate because it is authentic learning that motivates and deeply engages her scholars to become stronger readers, writers, critical thinkers and leaders.  Katie loves writing creatively and working with Kathleen Dodd, Ariana Warren, Siddique Baksh, and David Grant to coach the award-winning Frederick Douglass Academy VIII Debate Team.

 

Jordy Portugal

Jordy Portugal is currently a rising senior at Maspeth High School. He has been debating for two years since sophomore year. Jordy is the captain of his debate team and has traveled the national circuit. He has both debated and succeeded at all levels of Public Forum debate. He is dedicated to the art of debate and is always finding new ways to improve his and his teammate's skills in debate. Jordy just recently attended the National High School Institute at Northwestern University where he reached the finals in the Public Forum division. Overall, Jordy is looking to help others succeed while having a good laugh here and there.

 

Horia Negru

Horia is a senior at Maspeth High School and has been taking part in public forum debate for 2 years. In these two years he was won multiple tournaments where he has received multiple top speaker awards. Horia has reached the elimination rounds of tournaments several times and just last month Horia competed in the NFL National tournament in Overland Park, Kansas. He has also been named the top Public Forum speaker and along with his partner has been named the best Public Forum team for the past NYCUDL season.

 

Aleksandra Zuraw

Aleksandra Zuraw is a senior at Maspeth High School and will be going into college the year after as a premed major. Aleksandra has been debating for over a year in public forum debate and achieved semifinals at Lakeland as well as placing 3rd at Little Lexington. She has coached & judged middle school tournaments in the year prior and hopes to continue working with young debaters.

 

Valerie Tanzil

Valerie Tanzil is currently attending Maspeth High School and is one of the founding members of her school's public forum debate team. She has judged middle school and elementary school debate tournaments as well as help coach a middle school team in preparation for a tournament. She's traveled and competed in national tournaments and got to semi-finals at the Lakewood regional tournament and Third place at Little Lexington. She hopes to continue her role in the debate community after graduation and throughout college.

 

Andy Gonzalez

Andy Gonzalez in a senior at Maspeth High School and has just finished his rookie year as a debater. In his rookie year he made it to the semi-finals in both the city and state championships and has also competed in the national circuit. He has won multiple top speaker awards as well as placing 15th speaker in Big Lexington against more than 200 debaters. His dedication and love for debate has led him to attribute his time to helping other debaters younger than him prosper. 

 

Jessica Cotto

Jessica Cotto is entering her junior year at the University at Albany. She has participated in Policy Debate four years at her High school. In the last couple years, Jessica has created an interest in the area of juvenile justice and law. This summer will be Jessica's third summer working with the NYCUDL summer debate camp teaching both Policy and Public Forum debate. 

 

Erik Fogel

Erik Fogel is Director of the New York City Urban Debate League and coach of the Debate Team at the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice.  His debaters have won top awards at every single debate tournament in the Northeast including Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, NYC, Lexington, Manchester, Ridge, Newark, Washington DC and everywhere else!.  He coached the first New York City middle school teams to win top awards at the National Championships including Quarterfinalists, Semifinalists, and Third Place Top Speaker. Mr. Fogel received his B.A. in Political Science & History from UC Berkeley, J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law, and M.A. in Education from Pace University.  

 

Erika Marte

Erika Marte is currently a rising senior at Hamilton College majoring in Comparative Literature with a double minor in Chinese and Women Studies. She began debating in 8th grade at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice and won numerous awards including Semifinalist at the New York State Championships and Second Top Speaker in New York State.  She received a full scholarship to college because of debate.  Debate has allowed her to express her thoughts and always fight for what she believe in. She hopes to obtain a career in public advocacy or in a field that allows her to help people.

 

Courtney Kaufman

Courtney Kaufman is a junior at Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Computer Science and Art History. She is an active member of her school's American Parliamentary Debate team and will serve as Director of Logistics for Mount Holyoke's Invitational Tournament this fall. She is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, where she traveled and competed nationally in Policy debate. She has judged at both the Middle School Policy and Public Forum Championships, as well as other national and local high school tournaments. In 2012, she was the first recipient of the New York City Invitational's Most Outstanding Tournament Official award. She's been known to quote lines from Monty Python and the Big Bang Theory. She also enjoys the music of Weird Al.

 

Loretta Brady

Loretta Brady is one of our most passionate and experienced debate coaches.  Coach of the award winning PS 278 debate team in Washington Heights and currently an instructor at the Harvard Summer Debate Institute, Loretta is one of our top instructors in public forum debate in New York.

SUMMER DEBATE TOURNAMENT CALENDAR
All members of the New York City Urban Debate League are eligible for full scholarships to Debate Camp
Email us at nycudl@gmail.com for scholarship information!
 
Trophies
There's no summer break for debate!  Welcome to our summer debate season with tournaments nearly every weekend!  And if interested in volunteering as a judge at any of these tournaments, please email us at nycudl@gmail.com.  Thank You!
 
Summer Debate Institutes
 
Harlem Debate Institute
Brooklyn Debate Institute
Bronx Debate Institute
Queens Debate Institute
Manhattan Debate Institute
Teachers Debate Institute  
 
Summer Debate Tournament Calendar
 
July 3 - Harlem Summer Debate Tournament

July 11th - Brooklyn Summer Debate Tournament

July 31st - Manhattan Middle School Summer Debate Tournament

August 1st - Manhattan High School Summer Debate Tournament

August 15th - Bronx Summer Debate Tournament

August 29th - Queens Summer Debate Tournament 

August 29th - Teachers Summer Debate Tournament

August 29th - Columbia University Summer Debate Tournament

 

Policy Debate Topic (2014-2015)

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth's oceans.

 

Public Forum Debate Topic (September/October 2014)

Topic Area: Sports in the United States.

 

Choice 1 - Resolved: On balance, students in grades 6-12 in the United States benefit when their schools offer interscholastic sports.

Choice 2 - Resolved: On balance, public subsidies for professional athletic organizations in the United States benefit their local communities. 

 

International Public Policy Forum Topic (2014-2015)

Resolved: Mass surveillance is not a justified method of governmental intelligence gathering.

 

Parliamentary Debate Topics

Student selected!


Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Debate Camps can cost several thousand dollars.  We are able to provide full scholarships to all Title I schools and students that are members of the New York City Urban Debate League, as well as all students for a fraction of the cost thanks to our incredible sponsors who are passionate about providing the most rigorous educational opportunities to all students.  We thank...

 

The Arthur Rupe Foundation

 

The West Harlem Development Corporation

 

New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Inc. 

 

The New York City Council

 

Brown & Rudnick

 

Fish & Richardson

 

Supporters and Volunteers like You!

NYC DEBATE LEAGUE PROGRAMS
NEW YORK CITY'S MOST RIGOROUS ACADEMIC PROGRAM - EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEKEND, EVERY SUMMER - YEAR ROUND.
Trophies
White House
New York City High School Debate Calendar
2014-2015

10/4 - HS Tournament #1
The Bingham Debate Season Opener

11/1 - HS Tournament #2
The Metro Hudson Tournament

12/6 - HS Tournament #3
The Fried Frank Invitational

12/20 - HS Tournament #4
The Regis Holiday Classic 

1/10 - HS Tournament #5 
The Brooklyn Debate Invitational

2/21 - HS Tournament #6
The Metro Hudson Debate Blowout 

3/20 - HS Tournament #7 
The NYC High School Championships 
Kirkland & Ellis National Qualifier

4/25 - HS Tournament #8 
The Beveridge & Diamond Environmental Debate Fest!

5/2 - HS Tournament #9
The Donors Choose Invitational

6/6 - The Girls Debate Championships
New York City Travel Team Debate Calendar
2014-2015


9/19-9/21 - Yale University (CT)
9/26-9/28 - Georgetown University (DC)
10/10-10/11 - Monticello (NY)
10/18 - NYC Invitational (NY)
10/24-10/26 -Capital Beltway Classic (MD)
11/22-23 - Manchester (MA)
12/5-7 - Princeton University (NJ)
12/12 - Ridge High School (NJ)
1/9-1/11 - Newark Invitational (NJ)
1/23-1/25 - Columbia University (NY)
2/6-2/7 - Scarsdale Invitational (NY)
2/15-17 - Harvard University (MA)
2/15-17 - University of Pennsylvania (PA)
2/27 - Lakeland High School (NY)
4/9-4/12 - Urban Debate National Championships (University of Southern California) (CA)
4/11-4/13 - National Debate Coaches Association National Championships (NV)
6/14-20 - National Speech & Debate Association's National Championships (TBA)


Middle School
MSQI
Elementary
New York City Middle School Debate League Tournament Calendar
2014-2015

10/11 - Conference #1
The West Harlem Foundation Debate Invitational

11/8 - Conference #2
The McCarthey Dressman Debate Invitational

12/6 - Conference #3
The Citizens Committee Debate Invitational

1/10 - Conference #4
The Donors Choose Invitational

2/7 - Conference #5
The Brown Rudnick Invitational

2/27-28 - Travel Tournament 
(The Westchester Classic)

3/7-3/8 
The New York State Middle School Championships

3/28 - Conference #6
The Bronx Science Battle of the Boroughs Middle School Tournament

4/25 - Conference #7
The Beveridge & Diamond Environmental Debate Fest!

5/16 - Conference #8: 
The Fish & Richardson City of Champions: New York City Middle School Championships

6/6 - The Girls Debate Championships

6/14 - The National Middle School Championships 
The National Speech 
& Debate Association


New York City Middle School Quality Initiative Tournament Calendar
2014-2015
 
10/18 - Tournament #1
The MSQI Season Opener

1/10 - Tournament #2
The Brooklyn Debate Invitational

3/28 - Tournament #3
The Bronx Science Battle of the Boroughs Middle School Tournament

6/12 - Tournament #4
The MSQI Championships @ Columbia University

New York City Elementary School Debate League Tournament Calendar
2014-2015
 
10/11 - Tournament #1
The West Harlem Foundation Debate Invitational

11/8 - Tournament #2
The McCarthey Dressman Debate Invitational

12/6 - Tournament #3
The Citizens Committee Debate Invitational

1/10 - Tournament #4
The Donors Choose Invitational

2/7 - Tournament #5
The Brown Rudnick Invitational

3/7-3/8 
The New York State Elementary School Championships

3/28 - Tournament #6
The Bronx Science Battle of the Boroughs

4/25 - Tournament #7
The Beveridge & Diamond Environmental Debate Fest!

5/9 - Tournament #8
The Elementary School Championships @ The New York Historical Society



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