Sep 18, 2023 At 09:48 AM EDT
High school debate students are used to having spirited arguments with their peers in front of a judge. But debating in front of more than 200 people, including top city and state officials, adds a bit more pressure.
Next week, a handful of students from the Minnesota Urban Debate League (MNUDL) will participate in the Mayors Challenge, a fundraising event that has brought together education advocates and local and state officials in support of debate since 2012.
"I was a high school debater and I went to college because of debate, so I've always viewed debate as about opening doors," said MNUDL Executive Director Amy Cram Helwich. "This is another way for students to have that opportunity and know that their voice matters."
Four students—two teams of two—representing schools in the nine districts that are partnered with the MNUDL will participate in a modified policy debate on economic inequality, this year's national debate topic.
Abdihafid Mohamed, a senior from Thomas Edison High School, and Adai Truong, a junior at Central High School, will argue the affirmative. The negative will be argued by Highland Park High School senior Lily St. Dennis and Tartan High School senior Sabrena Thao.
The audience will then vote to determine the winning team, which will be announced later in the program.
Guests include Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and first lady Gwen Walz. Both the governor and first lady are former teachers, and Gwen Walz is a former speech and debate coach and member of the MNUDL Advisory Board.
Christine Tucci Osorio, the superintendent of the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District, said this event is a great way to bring attention to debate in the community.
"What's so exciting about this event is I think it just elevates [debate,] and we're lucky to have a governor and his wife who are very, very involved in this topic and Urban Debate League," she said. "I think that there's something to be said for having a governor who is a former teacher, you know, and that obviously influences a lot of things."
The superintendent added that the support of civic leaders sends a message to students that their government officials care about advancing education in marginalized communities.
"Equity work is about understanding who all of your stakeholders are and making sure that we're meeting everyone's needs. And if we are not, then we need to do something differently," Osorio said. "[The Minnesota governor and first lady] don't throw their names behind everything, but they are very strategic about putting their name and their expertise, and obviously their visibility, to an issue that's really about equity."
After debating, the students will have the opportunity to interview the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The questions will focus on universal basic income and economic inequality, Cram Helwich said.
There will also be a discussion between the event's "VIP panel" of economic policy experts, including Chris Farrell, a senior economics contributor on Minnesota Public Radio and Steve Grove, the former commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Economic Development and the publisher of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The league will also honor a Champion of Change—a change-maker in the community who models "courageous leadership" and inspires students, according to the MNUDL. Past honorees include U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. This year, the MNUDL will honor Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Before Ellison was elected as attorney general in 2018, he represented Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years. He also served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and practices as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney.
Ellison has a long-standing connection with the league, including holding a panel on criminal justice reform with students in 2021 and helping to launch the league's Somali debate program—now known as East African Debate—with a keynote when he was in Congress.
The MNUDL runs as part of Augsburg University, a private university affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church that enrolled about 6,332 undergraduate and graduate students in 2021, according to Data USA.
The event is more than just a fundraiser; Augsburg University President Paul C. Pribbenow said the Mayors Challenge expands the circle of people who will support Urban Debate in the Twin Cities, including volunteers for judging and other forms of advocacy.
It's also a way to promote public education. Pribbenow said school districts in Minneapolis and St. Paul are "really troubled," as many extracurricular activities have been "stripped out" of many public schools.
One of the goals, Pribbenow said, is for debate support to trickle down to younger students. The hope is that the league can create a pipeline through middle and early high school and that those teachers will become advocates for the program within their own schools.
"For first-generation families, students of color, you've got to start early; you can't just start when they're juniors in high school. You've got to reach back into seventh, eighth, ninth grade and meet them there," he said. "This is doing exactly what those founders of the Urban Debate League hoped it would do in terms of not just making debate more prevalent in the schools, but also giving those students that pathway [to] college and beyond."
The Mayors Challenge will take place on Thursday, September 21, at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.
