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Monday, November 15, 2010

 Denver, Colorado - The Denver Urban Debate League (DUDL), now beginning a third year of programming in Denver, has doubled in size since DUDL launched in August 2008. Over 100 students and 50 community volunteers are expected to attend the Third Annual Baker Hostetler Classic hosted by Thomas Jefferson High School this Friday and Saturday. 

An Urban Debate League is defined as a competitive policy debate program that targets urban schools and youth. The league trains and organizes students, coached by teachers and school faculty, to engage in policy research, public speaking, and argumentative advocacy. In Denver the league operates in partnership with Denver Public Schools and The University of Denver Sturm College of law. This year ten schools are participating in this program that is proven to produce significant improvement in the academic success of urban students nationwide. 

"We see a direct correlation between participation in Urban Debate and an increase in school attendance rates, grade point average and literacy scores," said Jessica Clark, Executive Director of the Denver Urban Debate League. "In May all ten DUDL seniors graduated from high school and three were awarded Daniels Fund scholarships to attend college," Ms. Clark continued. The public is invited to see for themselves how impressive these debaters are at the Baker Hostetler Debate Classic on November 12^th and 13^th at Thomas Jefferson High School. Students will be debating the resolution, "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following countries: Japan, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Korea, Turkey. 

A new survey conducted by the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL), DUDL's national partner, found that in a poll of 62 students who will have reached high school graduation age since their participation in the Urban Debate National Championship:

61 graduated from high school.

54 are currently enrolled in a four-year college.

33 are the first in their families to attend college.

6 received debate scholarships or continue to debate in college.

1 student now in college debated her senior year of high school while homeless.

1 student now in college did not speak English until age 12 after immigrating to the U.S. 

Among these students is Denver's own Reuben Aguirre, a 2010 graduate of West High School. Reuben is attending the University of Denver this fall and in addition to his Daniels Fund Scholarship is debating for DU's debate team, and was awarded a debate scholarship as well. 

The upcoming DUDL competition at Thomas Jefferson High School, sponsored by Denver law firm Baker Hostetler, LLC, will take place from 3:00 PM - 9:00 PM on Friday and 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM on Saturday.  The debates are open to the public. The high schools participating in the Baker Hostetler Debate Classic include Denver Center for International Studies, Denver School of Science and Technology, Contemporary Learning Academy, Manual, Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, Montbello, Thomas Jefferson, Venture Prep and West. 

For more information about the Denver Urban Debate League please contact Jessica Clark, Executive Director at 720.878.2776.