My school is a public charter school that serves 400 phenomenal Black and Latino students, 75% of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Our Speech & Debate Team provides students who are historically underrepresented in Speech & Debate with the opportunities to compete both locally and nationally in public speaking and debating.
Even though it was only our second year having a speech team, over 25 active members were extremely successful at local, regional, and national competitions this past year. Students advanced to elimination rounds at several national tournaments this year, including Villager at St. Joseph's University, the Princeton Classic at Princeton University, and the Liberty Bell Classic at the University of Pennsylvania. One student earned a spot at the Tournament of Champions at the University of Lexington and also at the Extemp Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University. Two students earned spots to the NCFL National Championship in Sacramento over Memorial Day weekend. Over the course of our season, nine students qualified for the New York State Championship in April, where four of our them advanced to quarter-finals.
My Project
This year, three of our students earned spots to the NCFL National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend. We are extremely proud of their hard work and know that they will represent themselves and our school with pride.
Competing at Nationals is a huge opportunity for our kids, and I know that they will carry the confidence that comes with it for years to come.
That said, it is extremely costly, and money in our Title 1 public school is tight. This project is intended to cover meals for the kids over the course of the weekend. I have taken kids to tournaments before where students chose not to ask me for money for food because they were too embarrassed and instead just went hungry. With your support, the kids will only worry about nailing their speeches at the competition, not how they are going to pay for lunch.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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