Announcements

Denver, CO -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College students earned 21 wins at this year’s opening competition for the 2009-2010 debate season. The Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell Season Opener was hosted last Saturday by Manual High School.

More than 40 students competed in two divisions: Novice and Varsity. The high schools that participated are Academy of Urban Learning, Manual, Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, Montbello, Thomas Jefferson and West.

The awards at a glance:

Team Sweepstakes Awards -- (for overall performance of a debate squad at the tournament)
First -- MLK, Early College High School
Second -- Manual High School

Judges' Choice Awards - (for outstanding sportsmanship, courage, and debating skill)
Novice - Yvonne Acosta - Manual High School
Varsity - Adolfo Valdez - West High School

Top Five Varsity Speakers
1) Alejandro Martinez, MLK
2) Reuben Aguirre, West
3) Bethany James, MLK
4) Jessica Keys, Manual
5) Juan Chavez, MLK

Top Five Novice Speakers
1) Sandy Nunez, MLK
2) Selene Figueroa, MLK
3) Deserae White, MLK
4) Camila Neumann, MLK
5) Te'Andis Elliot, Academy of Urban Learning

About the debate
The Denver Urban Debate League (DUDL) Advisory Board and Denver Public Schools (DPS) are proud to announce the beginning of the 2009-10 debate season with The Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell Season Opener. The competition was held at Manual High School on Saturday, October 17. 

The UDL teams debated the 2009-10 National High School Policy Debate Resolution: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States. Debaters took part in four debate rounds, arguing both the affirmative and negative side of the resolution. The tournament concluded with an awards ceremony. Representatives from the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues were in attendance, including Scott Deatherage, former Director of Debate at Northwestern University. Deatherage’s teams won the National Debate Tournament championship seven times and he was voted the “coach of the decade” for the 1990s by his peers.

About DUDL

Since its launch in August of 2008, the Denver Urban Debate League has experienced remarkable success giving Denver high school students the opportunity to learn and achieve through debate. Last season, we built a network of over 50 high school students participating in rigorous academic debate for the first time ever. In April ,the top four debaters (top two two-person teams based on the City Championship results) traveled to Chicago to represent the DUDL at the Chase Urban Debate National Championship. Both teams delivered an impressive performance in preliminary rounds. One of the teams, from West High School, won four of six preliminary debate rounds, qualifying for a coveted position in Octo-Finals in the Open (Varsity) division. The debaters from West then went on to elimination rounds in the “First-Year Break-Out” division for novice debaters coming from brand-new leagues tied for third place “First-Year Team” in the Nation.

In the 2009-10 school year, DUDL is expanding to serve six to eight schools and double our participation numbers. The DUDL, like all UDLs nationwide, serves students who face incredible odds at school and at home as they work to graduate from high school and go on to college. Nationally, close to 100% of urban debaters graduate from high school and 75% go on to college. The DUDL is continuing this trend. The DUDL’s mission is to promote inclusiveness, citizenship and education equity by making debate available to every student in the Denver metro area. Debate changes the lives of urban students and enriches the communities in which they live. Denver is the 26th city to join this national social justice movement.

The DUDL is deeply grateful to our corporate and community sponsors, such as Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP, who make our programming possible at no cost to the students we serve, or to their families.

For more information about the Denver Urban Debate League, please contact Jessica Clark by calling 720.878.2776, or e-mail Jessica at JessicaClark@urbandebate.org. Also visit www.urbandebate.org and www.denverdebate.org and visit our fan page on Facebook. 

 If you have a story about a Denver Public School or student, e-mail us at Goodnews@dpsk12.org. Please include a photo with your story. Photos of students require a signed media consent form, which you can fax to 720.423.3611. (Spanish version within same document.)