By Lisa Schemensky
The Forensics Community

My involvement in Forensics Debate began when I was a Sophomore in high school. Being rubbish at acting, and unable to get cast in a play, I decided to join my school’s Speech Team.  I had several friends who were active members in both Speech and Theatre. They enjoyed Speech. Could not quite explain to me what it was (“competitive speaking and acting…sort of”), but their obvious jovial nature aroused when speaking of Forensics was plenty to transform me into a Speech Kid.

Three years later I qualified to compete at Sectionals, was a Team Captain, and had sharpened my acting/analysis skills so I was successful in high school drama. Despite some strain on the team my Senior year, I loved the experience. Even my decision to attend Bradley University was influenced by the knowledge that if I continued involvement in Forensics I would be competing on one of the Nation’s strongest teams.

Although I might not have joined Bradley’s Speech Team, opting instead to pursue my dream of obtaining a Minor in Theatre, Forensics has been a constant source of growth, development, and confidence since when I entered my first round to perform a scene from Alice in Wonderland. I could not imagine having not been in Speech. Where would I be? Who would I be? If people truly are a composition of their past experiences and what was learned through them, I doubt I would be who and where I am now. Frightening. It is impossible to know how a lack of Speech would have transformed my life. What is possible to measure is the positive influence it has had. Every student should be so fortunate.

But the fact is they are not. I have no idea the scale of high school’s with Forensic or Debate teams. With The National Forensic League, at least one State run Speech and Debate League per State, and there exist various other leagues as well, Forensics is strong. Yet, there are still an enormous amount of students without access to Forensics. Especially with the current economy, school’s are being forced to make challenging decisions to cut “unnecessary” programs. And Speech and Debate can become expensive with travel costs. Couple that with a small program and disaster occurs.

There are sources of good though. Educators and Forensics alum know of Speech and Debate’s benefits. So much so that there are independent organizations that exist to provide students with access to Forensics. For instance the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) is a network of Urban Debate Leagues across the country that started in 1997, or 1985 if including the first Urban Debate League ever from Atlanta. NAUDL recognizes the powe policy debate affords young Great Debaters and the importance of students starting at an early age. The Duval Urban Debate League recruits a diverse pool of students beyond high GPA scores, which affords more students a higher chance of attending college, a lesser chance of dropping out of high school, increased communication skills, improved analytical and critical-thinking skills. We aim to help each participant with more confidence, motivation, community awareness which we measure over the debaters ongoing participation levels (Urban Debate Value).

As you read there are currently over five-hundred high schools which have or currently hosting an urban debate league. The number continues to grow with newly formed Urban Debate Leagues across the country.

Leagues like The Duval Urban Debate League (DUDL) of Jacksonville, Florida. The DUDL is “a public-private partnership operated by the Duval Urban Debate League Community Debate Council…a private group of civic and business leaders, and [the] Duval County Public Schools”. The goal can be simply stated: provide a league and activity that can help a child achieve both character and educational development. The means to do so are not so easy. Finding backers to fund the League, train and organize teachers and parents to operate tournaments, teach educators and adults how to Coach Debate, getting the community and students involved, integrating a Debate course into the curriculum, and so on.  Forming an Urban Debate League is NOT an undertaking for the weak. Yet, the Duval Urban Debate League has not succumbed and is a growing League after only being formed in September of the 2009-2010 school year.

Jermyn Shannon-El leads next wave of Great Debaters

I have been fortunate enough to be able to speak with a leader in instructional design and the policy debate space, Jermyn Shannon-El.  More of this in Part II.

Thus concludes Part I.  Stay posted for the release of Part II (last updated 2022).

Works Cited:

“About.” dudl.org. Duval Urban Debate League, n.d. Web. 25 May 2010.

“Urban Debate Value.” urbandebate.org. National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, n.d. Web. 25 May 2010.