Why Newsweek Is Working With Urban Debate Leagues to Support Young Debaters

Newsweek is kicking off a partnership with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) by inviting several of the organization's most promising young students to discuss critical issues facing our country today.

On Friday, April 14, Newsweek will host a collection of high school debaters from Washington, D.C., Denver and Silicon Valley for a live debate at the company's global headquarters at One World Trade Center in New York City. In tandem with the event, those same eight NAUDL students will also appear on upcoming episodes of Newsweek's The Debate podcast.

Rhonda Haynes, the executive director of NAUDL, said this ongoing collaboration will showcase young debaters and hopefully help grow the competition in schools across the country, which aligns with NAUDL's purpose.

"The whole reason NAUDL exists is to create equitable opportunities for young people," Haynes told Newsweek. "Students who participate in debate in general are developing life skills. So it's wonderful to be a part of an organization that gets to provide access for more students to have the chance to debate."

Haynes said that at the demonstration debate on Friday, "the world gets to see what debaters can do."

The event serves as a prelude to Newsweek's forthcoming content hub called Mightier, the name of which plays off of the adage "the pen is mightier than the sword." Because the good-faith exchange of ideas is at the core of its mission, Newsweek is committing to cover high school debate closely—to support the next generation of great thinkers, who could very well shape our national conversation in the decades to come.

Set to launch on April 20, Mightier will feature interviews with Urban Debate students, alumni, coaches and mentors from across the country, as well as reports on NAUDL debates and events throughout the year. The coverage begins with a string of videos and a special podcast miniseries focused on the students participating in the debate showcase at Newsweek's headquarters.

"We're delighted to partner with NAUDL to host a live debate here in our office and to amplify these students' voices on our digital and podcast platforms with the new Mightier content hub," Newsweek Global Editor-in-Chief Nancy Cooper said. "We can't wait to meet these young leaders, and to introduce them—and other debaters in the NAUDL network—to Newsweek's audience around the world."

For some of these students, it is their first time taking a plane out of their home state. They were chosen for their debate skills and their involvement in NAUDL's I RESOLVE public debate series, which presents debate for the average non-debater. It is a public debate format that features slower speech without the technical jargon one would hear during a typical debate competition.

Haynes said this modified format is "the perfect way to help other people understand why they should pay attention to debate."

She said the debate will demonstrate the students' level of preparedness, thoughtfulness and ability to digest complex information quickly as they discuss issues including affirmative action, artificial intelligence, immigration and climate optimism.

NAUDL organizes programing and events for 22 partner leagues that bring debate to largely underserved public schools in metropolitan areas to prepare "the next generation to lead and succeed," according to the nonprofit's website.

Through debate, students learn critical thinking, collaboration and leadership skills and how to think broadly about all sides of an issue.

"There is no activity that is taught in secondary and post-secondary education that teaches the art not just of communication but also argumentation," Haynes said. "As an organization, to be able to bridge some of those gaps so more students get access to that developmental skill is tremendous."

The April 14 event comes a few weeks after NAUDL hosted its first in-person Urban Debate National Championship tournament in four years. A team of juniors from Port of Los Angeles High School came out on top at the tournament, which was held in Dallas. The competition wasn't entirely in-person, however; the final round was postponed for a few days due to inclement weather and eventually held over Zoom.