Baltimore Urban Debate League
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| Baltimore Urban Debate League | |
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| Founder | Pamela Spiliadis, Executive Director Chris Baron, Director of Programs Elizabeth Skinner, Faculty Liason |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Key people | Diana Kerns, Program Assistant Andy Ellis, Middle School Co-Coordinator Lynn Robinson, Middle School Co-Coordinator Audra Mellix, Director of Development Sean Rueter, College Access Programs Andreas Spiliadis, School Support Specialist |
| Area served | Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore City Public School System |
| Focus | Policy debate |
| Website | http://www.budl.org/ |
The Baltimore Urban Debate League, commonly referred to as BUDL (pronounced 'boodle'), is a non profit organization that is educationally based and partially a mentorship for inner city school children in middle schools and high schools. The organization is based in Baltimore, Maryland and is active in schools apart of the Baltimore City Public School System.The main focus, in coordination with the Towson University Speech and Debate Team, is to teach students policy debate, but in recent years doing so has shown that the majority of the students involved have massively improved study habits, school work, attendance, and overall community involvement.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The league was started by a grant from a collaboration of Fund for Educational Excellence and the George Soros Open Society Institute in 1999. The first year it only operated in about 8 high schools around Baltimore City with about 90 students.[2] [3] Since then the program has expanded into over 35 high schools, 21 middle schools, and countless hundreds of what could be thousands of students across the metropolis. There have been many students in the league that have gone on to compete in national and international tournaments sanctioned by several debate associations including:
- American Debate Association
- Barkley Forum
- Catholic Forensic League
- Cross Examination Debate Association
- International Debate Education Association
- National Debate Tournament
- New York Urban Debate League
- New Jersey Urban Debate League
- National Forensic League
- Washington DC Urban Debate League
Several students have also won scholarships to go to "debate camps" over the summer. These are intensive training workshops for preparation for the upcoming debate topic. Some of those include:
- Emory University
- Howard University
- Towson University
- Northwestern University
- The Catholic University of America
- University of Louisville
- University of Vermont
- University Of Wyoming
- Wake Forest University
At first BUDL was only available to high school students, but in the 2005-2006 season, they incorporated the successful high school model into middle schools around the city. Middle school students also have the opportunity to go to debate camp at the Towson International Debate Institute (TIDI), as a workshop to help with their debate skills. The same workshop is also available free to high school students as well over the summer.
[edit] Mission
According to the league's website:
| “ | ...to enrich the academic experience of students from Baltimore City's public high schools through participation in team policy debate. The Baltimore Urban Debate League is especially interested in students with untapped potential, who are disengaged from the contemporary high school classroom. For these students, and for traditionally successful students as well, debate often becomes the most rewarding activity of their high school career. Because debate requires self-directed learning and includes opportunities for competitive success, it motivates students who have never before felt the thrill of being responsible and rewarded for their own learning. | ” |
[edit] Debate Format
| Part of the series Policy Debate |
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| Organization | |
| Policy debate competitions |
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| Format | |
| Structure of policy debate · Resolution |
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| Participants | |
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Affirmative · Negative · Judge |
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| Types of Arguments | |
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Stock Issues · Case· Disadvantage |
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| Argumentative Concepts | |
[edit] High school
The league only offers policy debate instead of other speech events. This could be due to financial constraints or because its stated mission is to teach students how to apply policy debate to their school work, which speech cannot offer. However, high school students can compete in debate and speech events offered by the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League at their tournaments.
[edit] Middle School
The middle school format is slightly different than the high school model. They still follow the basic principals of policy debate, but instead of one resolution every year, one topic is chosen every month. The league narrows it down to a pool of topics, and all of the member schools vote on which one they would like to debate. The speech and cross examination times are also slightly altered, as is the "speaker points" system.
Since BUDL has one of the only middle school leagues in the state, most of the debaters only debate other middle schools around the city, until they reach the high school level.
[edit] Member Schools
As a member school of BUDL, each team can participate in year round tournaments sanctioned by the league and the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League. No school has to pay dues to be apart of the league and it covers the cost of BCFL dues so that debaters may participate in their tournaments. The league also pays for travel to out-of-state tournaments along the East Coast. During the summer, BUDL pays for the travel of groups of debaters to go to "debate camps" as well.
BUDL also has a National Forensic League chair, headed by debate coach Steve Sprouse, so that BUDL debaters may participate in qualifying tournaments to compete in national tournaments. He is also an assistant for the policy debate section of the BCFL for the same reasons. At the end of each year, BUDL awards season trophies, medals, and certificates for the progress teams and individuals have made on their particular squad, which has been a hallmark of the league.
[edit] High Schools in the league:
XXXX - School is no longer in BUDL
[edit] Middle Schools in the league:
| School Name | Team Web Page |
|---|---|
| Booker T. Washington Middle School | [33] |
| Benjamin Franklin Junior High | [34] |
| Calverton Middle School | [35] |
| Canton Middle School | [36] |
| Chinquapin Middle School | [37] |
| ConneXions Leadership Academy | [38] |
| Diggs Johnson Middle School | [39] |
| Hamilton Middle School | [40] |
| Harlem Park Middle School | [41] |
| Lombard Middle School | [42] |
| Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School | [43] |
| Pimlico Middle School | [44] |
| Robert Poole Middle School | [45] |
| Roland Park Middle School | [46] |
| Roland Patterson Middle School | [47] |
| Thurgood Marshall Middle School | [48] |
| West Baltimore Middle School | [49] |
| Westport Academy | [50] |
| William H Lemmel Middle School | [51] |
| Winston Middle School | [52] |
[edit] League Champions
The year's champion is decided by how many cumulative wins each school accumulates from each indvidual team over the season in BUDL tournaments, not including out-of-state or BCFL tournaments. The winners are announced at the league's annual banquet held in May.
- 1999-2000 Northwestern High School
- 2000-2001 Forest Park High School
- 2001-2002 Walbrook High School
- 2002-2003 Walbrook High School
- 2003-2004 Baltimore City College
- 2004-2005 Baltimore City College
- 2005-2006 Merganthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School (Mervo)
At each BUDL tournament, there is also a "top school" award for the squad that has the most wins that day. The schools that have received this award the most are:
| School Name | Number of times awarded |
|---|---|
| Walbrook High School | 16 |
| Baltimore City College | 14 |
| Mervo | 9 |
| Carver | 4 |
Walbrook also holds the BUDL record for the most consecutive wins at "top school" (14), the only high school in BUDL history to hold "top school" for an entire debate season (2002-2003), and was the first to use "organic debate" in Baltimore, which stemmed from the "Louisville Project" in Kentucky.
[edit] BUDL-Media
[edit] BUDL-Man
BUDL-Man is an award of sportsmanship that is awarded to one school at every tournament. It is passed from school to school, and whoever has the trophy decides who they would like to award it to based on team spirit, determination, or whatever criteria the team sees fit. The award was created by the Patterson High School team in 1999 to promote sporting attitude, good teamwork, hard work, and other values learned through competition.[4]
The actual trophy is a stylized action figure, who is a superhero with a book for a head. He has a pen in his right hand and a legal pad in the other. There is also a utility belt with a "B" on it. He is in a plastic case, and has been redesigned at least three times.
By the end of the 2006-2007 season, BUDL Man will have been passed down an estimated 50 times.
To date, the only time that BUDL-Man has ever been awarded to an individual, instead of a school, was in December, 2005 at Tournament #3 at Towson. The students at Mervo decided to award the trophy to senior Adam Jackson. Jackson was awarded because he still decided to come to the tournament, despite the fact his house had been nearly destroyed two days earlier by a fire. There is still footage of the fire on a local news affiliate's website. [5]
[edit] Poetry Slam
In the 2004-2005 season, the league started holding "Poetry Slams" right before the awards ceremony at each tournament. Usually students will read poems, sing, dance, and even do comedic routines to release tension after an entire day of debating.
[edit] Debate Comix
In July, 2006 BUDL started their "Debate Comix" initiative, which aimed at making stories with superhero characters. The only difference being that the main characters would be based off of debate arguments, with the main antagonist being "Evidence Man". [6]
[edit] Urban Debate Scholars
While the organization is still considered to be a fairly new league (under 10 years of existence) BUDL has fostered notable individuals who have gone on to debate in college successfully and have won "full-ride" scholarships. Since Towson University has such close ties to the league, the speech and debate team offer an "Urban Debate Scholar" award to one graduating senior each year in BUDL.[7] This award is full tuition and fees at Towson, and a $500 book award. There are also lesser awards that vary between $2,000 - $4,000. Students that have received this award include:
- 2002 - Shawntia Diggs, Forest Park High School
- 2005 - Dayvon Love, Forest Park High School
- 2005 - Iman Brickus, Carver Vocational Technical High School
- 2005 - Nicole Wheeler, Forest Park High School
- 2005 - Ashlee Avery, Forest Park High School
- 2006 - Adam Jackson, Digital Harbor High School
[edit] Accomplishments and other media
- BUDL is arguably considered the most popular debate league due to its national coverage on the national news magazine 60 Minutes. The segment featured star debaters from Walbrook High School and their coach Angelo Brooks. The students talk about how debate had changed their life and inspired them to go to get better grades in school and go to college.[8]
- Most stories that report on the league contest that over 90% of all BUDL seniors graduate with a diploma, and over 75% go on to college. There have also been surveys of the students that show BUDL has improved literacy, test scores, school grades, oratory skills, and self esteem in the vast majority of students that participate across Baltimore.
- Local Baltimore news outlets, which include WMAR, WNUV, WJZ, WBAL, WBFF, The Baltimore Sun, The Baltimore Examiner, and The Afro-American have covered events, speeches and public debates held by the league. Possibly some of the most notable coverage happened during the 2004 crisis at Walbrook High. The school had recently changed the principal, due to criminal accusations against Andrey Bundley,[9] and was replaced by Shirley Cathorne. As a result multiple fights, fires, one shooting, and overall disrupt of the school environment occurred. [10] [11] The debate team was featured prominently in news stories to highlight its successes at the school.[12][13]
- On February 28, 2005, BUDL alum Adam Jackson won a local essay competition called "Champions of Courage" sponsored by a local news affiliate. He wrote the essay about his former debate coach Angelo Brooks. The essay highlighted Brooks' affect on the school and how he inspired Jackson and his peers to go to college. [14]
- The league has a "Public Debate Month" held in May every year. The goal at the end of the month is to have 100 public debates around the city. Then Mayor Martin O'Malley made a commemorative public debate month in February 2004 during their annual fundraiser. [15]
- In May 2005 the league held it's first public debate tournament at the amphitheater in Baltimore's Inner Harbor to commemorate its annual "Public Debate Month". The winners of the contest were Baltimore City College's Zachary Murray and Nicholas Brady, with runners up Adam Jackson from Digital Harbor, and Michael Smoot, from Mervo. [16]
- In 2005, BUDL alum Shawntia Diggs received the "Julia Burke Award" from the Julia Burke Foundation. The award recognizes people who exercise passion for policy debate and helping others in their communities. She received a trophy and was able to donate $1,000 to the league and the Bread for the World Institute. [17]
- In January, 2007 the league was honored by the White House with the "Coming Up Taller Award". The award recognizes outstanding arts and humanities programs around the country with a $10,000 grant. [18]
- In February 2007, for the first time in BUDL history, a full team of debaters traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to compete in the Harvard Invitational debate tournament. Run by Harvard University’s debate program. Zachary Murray and Nicholas Brady from Baltimore City College broke into elimination rounds. Brady was 12th speaker out of a field of 364 debaters. [19]
- In March 2007, BUDL alum Adam Jackson and Deverick Murray were the first BUDL graduates to qualify for elimination rounds at the Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament, held at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.
[edit] External links
- Official BUDL Website
- An Unofficial Blog for the Debate League and Towson Debate Team
- Open Society Institute, article about 60 minutes story
[edit] References
- ^ Baltimore's Urban Debaters Prove the Word is Mightier than the Sword
- ^ Open Society Institute - Baltimore Urban Debate League
- ^ Debating to the top - Baltimore Examiner
- ^ OODLES AND UDLS OF NEW COACHES - Chris Baron
- ^ Raging House Fire in NW Baltimore
- ^ Debate Comix Retreat
- ^ Towson Speech and Debate - Scholarships
- ^ Making Their Case - Debate Makes a Comeback at Inner City Schools
- ^ 125 Graduations at West Baltimore School Called Into Question by Audit
- ^ Fires burn at struggling Baltimore schools
- ^ IN BALTIMORE, A SURGE IN FIRES SET BY STUDENTS
- ^ Walbrook, in spite of problems: Debate team rules
- ^ Walbrook's new fire!
- ^ Officer Angelo Honored as 'Champion of Courage' at FOX 45 and WB 54 Awards Luncheon
- ^ Mayor O'Malley Proclaims February "Public Debate Month"
- ^ City students take their arguments outside
- ^ The Julia Burke Award for Character and Excellence in American Debate Association Policy Debate
- ^ BUDL Receives Prestigious Award from the White House
- ^ BUDL Teams Win At Harvard
