Jan

20

DKC Students Treated to Special Screening of Red Tails

January 20, 2012 | event, news, Uncategorized  |  Leave a Comment

On January 19th 150 DEBATE-Kansas City (DKC) students and their coaches received the red carpet treatment at a special screening of Red Tails as a service to urban youth who achieve academically through debate. AMC generously provided the tickets through collaboration with the Heart of America chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Red Tails chronicles the true story of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program who faced segregation during World War II.

Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver delivered opening remarks to a packed movie house. He spoke eloquently about the heroism of the Tuskegee airmen featured in the film. The Congressman noted that the Tuskegee airmen “Never lost a ship,” in their role as protectors of large bomber planes that faced attack from German fighters.

Cleaver also spoke highly of George Lucas, hoping we would become the “Branch Rickey of film.” It took the Hollywood tycoon an astonishing 23 years to get Red Tails made because Hollywood has been reluctant fund movies featuring all black casts.

The Congressman was hopeful that Red Tails would be well attended across the country, “Because if this movie succeeds people will put green over black,” a line which inspired cheers from the audience.

If the reaction from the night is any indication, the film will prove successful. West Middle School debate coach Christine Young said, “I’ll pay to see this move again.” Students expressed similar excitement after the film.

“It was an awesome movie!” said Jordan Henderson of Arrowhead Middle.

“One of the best movies I’ve seen. I mean, it was a 20 year production that brings a whole new spirit to African Americans in film,” said Derrick Parker of Lincoln Prep.

“The action sequences were amazing the story was also very inspiring!” elated Swan Sonna of Arrowhead.

The energy after the film filled the theater lounge as guests mingled to share their upbeat reviews. DKC students and coaches were grateful for the night out and the chance to see a movie that could pave the way for African American actors to play larger role in Hollywood films.

 

Jan

19

DKC and KC Star to Host: Competing Futures: a debate over KC schools

January 19, 2012 | event, general debate interest, news, policy debate, umkc, Uncategorized  |  Leave a Comment

DEBATE-Kansas City (DKC) is proud to be co-sponsoring a public debate over the future of Kansas City, Mo. schools with the Kansas City Star on January 31st at 7:30 p.m. on the campus of UMKC. The debate will feature three DKC alumni each arguing for a different entity (current community board, mayor or state) to control Kansas City, Missouri schools.

The purpose of Competing Futures: a debate over KC schools is twofold according to DKC’s Director, Gabe Cook.

“We want to provide a service to the community by holding a true academic debate over the choices facing our schools. But we also want to remind everyone that no matter what entity is in power, we need greater support for debate. Students access to debate has sharply decreased over the past two years and we must reverse the trend,” said Mr. Cook.

The public event will feature three DKC alumni that provide a testament to the power of debate. Two of the debaters, Ryan Wash and LaToya Williams-Green, are currently seniors at Emporia University where they form one of the best policy debate teams in the country. This year they placed ninth at the prestigious Harvard tournament and received an invitation to the Pittsburg round robin tournament, which is reserved for the top 20 teams in the country. Mr. Wash attended high school at Central while Ms. Williams-Green competed at Lincoln Prep.

The third performer will be Marcus Leach, an alumnus of Central High School who helped bring acclaim to his debate team by placing 10th at the National Forensics League tournament with partner Brandon Dial. Central’s story of success inspired the bestselling book Cross-Ex by Joe Miller. Mr. Leach followed his debate career with degrees from UMKC and Howard Law School and recently became the first program alumni to join the DEBATE-Kansas City Board of Directors.

The debate will feature a unique format to allow three different ideas to be in contest; most debates are over a single proposition. Each potential system for control – the current community board, mayoral control or a state takeover – will be given equal time and face equal push-back. Debaters will not be representing their personal views but instead will focus on objectively presenting and testing options through academic debate.

The debate will be held at UMKC’s Royall in room 111 at 7:30 p.m. on January 31st and will last just over an hour. The event is open to the public with seating capacity for well over 200 attendees.

Jan

17

New Policy Topic for 2012-13: Transportation Infrastructure

January 17, 2012 | coaches, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

The high school policy debate topic for 2012-13 will be: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.

Wikipedia (we do not advise formally citing Wikipedia) lists the following as transportation infrastructure;

Transportation infrastructure

For canals, railroads, highways, airways and pipelines see Grübler (1990),[13] which provides a detailed discussion of the history and importance of these major infrastructures.

Other information:

Topic paper

The congressional committee and transportation and infrastructure has information 

History channel video on transportation infrastructure

Building America’s Future Report 

Dec

14

First Leg of the DKC City Championship a Success!

December 14, 2011 | college debate, news, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

DEBATE-Kansas City held the high school policy debate portion of its annual City Championship December 3th, 2011 on the campus of UMKC. Teams from across the city gathered to debate about the United States space policy.

This is the second year DKC has broken the Championship into two parts. The first wave is held exclusively for high school policy debate, while all middle school debate and high school congress will be held in February.

The Lincoln Prep Tigers dominated the field by advancing three teams to the semi- finals. Corey Fisher debating maverick beat the team of Taylor Brunson and Emily Anderson from Patton junior High in semi-finals , to effectively close out the tournament.  Corey Fisher was undefeated and took home first place, while the also undefeated partner sets of Jared Freemon and Riley Kelly and Frankie George and Rose Keneally shared the second and third place spots.

“Mr. Fisher debated a great tournament and should be proud, but I have to hand it to the young ladies from Patton because advancing to semi-finals as freshman is a huge accomplishment,” said Isaac Allen, DKC’s Program Coordinator. “

Also of note were the Patton team of Nicole Tennant and Ethan Richardson and the Derrick Thomas team of Neshiera Taylor and Keith Porter who earned novice breakout awards.

The tournament began at 8:00 in the morning and ran late in to the evening. It was a long day, but thanks to the help of DKC coaches and volunteers the day was a success. One reason the DKC City Championship is so special is its incredible judging pool.

“The judges at the City Championship were primarily debaters from area college debate teams, and DKC alumni. This not only provided fair outcomes, it also gave each student at the tournament an opportunity to learn from experienced judges.” said Gabe Cook, Director of DKC.

A full list of Awards is below:

Policy Debate Teams

  1. Lincoln Prep, Corey Fisher
  2. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George & Rose Keneally
  3. Lincoln Prep, Jared Freemon & Riley Kelly
  4. Patton, Taylor Brunson & Emily Anderson

Novice Break Out Awards

  1. Derrick Thomas, Keith Porter & Neshiera Taylor
  2. Patton, Nicole Tennant & Ethan Richardson

Speaker Awards

  1. Lincoln Prep, Corey Fisher
  2. Hickman, Sahreen Kahn
  3. Patton, Emily Anderson
  4. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George
  5. Patton, Taylor Brunson
  6. Derrick Thomas, Erick Adams
  7. Lincoln Prep, Riley Kelly
  8. Patton, Nicole Tennant
  9. Lincoln Prep, Rose Keneally
  10. Patton, Jason Green

Dec

14

Fall Power Rankings

December 14, 2011 | coaches, general debate interest, news, policy debate, power rankings  |  Leave a Comment

DKC is proud to release our fist set of Power Rankings for the 2011-2012 season. The current totals are based on all tournaments held to date. In policy debate the teams are ranked based on total number of wins with speaker points breaking ties. In student congress places are determined by combined point totals from all tournaments.

Congratulations to all students who made the list!

HS Policy Teams

  1. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George & Hanna Rose Keneally
  2. Patton, Emily Anderson & Taylor Brunson
  3. Lincoln Prep, Corey Fisher & Katherine Ahrens
  4. Lincoln Prep, Jared Freemon & Riley Kelly
  5. Patton, Nicole Tennant & Ethan Richardson

 

HS Policy Speakers

  1. Lincoln Prep, Corey Fisher
  2. Hickman, Sahreen Khan
  3. Patton, Emily Anderson
  4. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George
  5. Patton, Taylor Brunson

 

MS Policy Teams

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Jack Eddy & Adam Maiale
  2. Barstow Eli Pearce & Spencer Walz
  3. Lee A. Tolbert, Myesha Gray & Makayla Oliver
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Nicholas Hickam & Ellen Baker
  5. Barstow Olivia Dugan & Chloe Ketchmark

 

MS Policy Speakers

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Adam Maiale
  2. Barstow, Spencer Walz
  3. Foreign Language Academy, Jack Eddy
  4. Barstow, Eli Pearce
  5. Arrowhead, Louie Andrews

 

MS Student Congress

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Monica Propst
  2. Lee A. Tolbert, Ericka Hall
  3. Lee A. Tolbert, Aereana Boyd
  4. Lee A. Tolbert, Jared Hoskins
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Hassan Nureini
  6. Center, Caleb Soliday
  7. Turner, Hill Connor
  8. Lee A. Tolbert, Zion Piper
  9. Center             Catlin Camble
  10. Lee A. Tolbert, Josiah Hoskins
  11. Sumner, Beighly Weiss
  12. Lee A. Tolbert, Isaiah Jones
  13. Foreign Language Academy, Lucy Hansen
  14. Lee A. Tolbert, Kiersten Jackson
  15. Lee A. Tolbert, Tyra Drone
  16. Rosedale, Ruth Seanez
  17. Foreign Language Academy, Adrian Ruiz Gonzalez
  18. Rosedale, Gilberto perez
  19. Lee A. Tolbert, Ariel Brown
  20. Foreign Language Academy, Xavier Freeman-Edwards

 

 

Dec

1

Arrowhead Hosts Huge Middle School Weeknight Tournament

December 1, 2011 | congress connection, news, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

On November 17th Arrowhead Middle School hosted one of the largest middle school tournaments in DEBATE-Kansas City’s (DKC) history. Just over 250 middle school students from across the city competed as part of DKC’s weeknight tournament series.

The Foreign Language Academy (FLA) debate squad earned an impressive array of awards in both policy debate and student congress that propelled them to first place in the sweepstakes award category.  The FLA squad had been on the verge of winning sweepstakes at the first tournament of the season, only to be narrowly edged out by Lee A. Tolbert. At the Arrowhead tournament those fortunes reversed with Lee A. Tolbert winning second place overall.

“This is going to be a great rivalry this season. I can’t wait to see these two impressive squads duke it out this year,” said Gabe Cook, Director of DKC. “I am also looking to see what other teams emerge as new sweepstakes challengers throughout the year,” he finished.

In policy debate the squad from Barstow Middle School won 6 of the possible 10 awards, establishing themselves as the squad to beat in policy debate. Barstow’s success was led by the team of Spencer Walz and Eli Pearce who took top honors as a team and first and second speakers respectively.

The hosts at Arrowhead were well-organized and created a very hospitable environment. Arrowhead’s head coach William Brame even provided the students a little entertainment prior to awards ceremony by playing a game of Simon Says.

“Arrowhead did a great job and they have a great coach. Mr. Brame made the tournament fun for the kids and the coaches,” said Isaac Allen, DKC’s Program Coordinator.

A full list of awards is below.

Sweepstake Awards

  1. Foreign Language Academy,
  2. Lee A. Tolbert
  3. Center Middle

Policy Debate Teams

  1. Barstow Eli Pearce & Spencer Walz
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Nicholas Hickam & Ellen Baker
  3. Barstow, Olivia Dugan & Chole Ketchmark
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Adam Maiale  & Jack Eddy
  5. Barstow, Kennedy Dochorn & Grace McGowan

Policy Debate Speakers

  1. Barstow, Spencer Walz
  2. Barstow, Eli Pearce
  3. Barstow, Grace McGowan
  4. Lee A. Tolbert, Carly Shockey
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Nicholas Hickam

House A

  1. Lee A. Tolbert, Jared Hoskins
  2. Lee A. Tolbert, Isaiah Jones
  3. Center Middle, Caitlin Campbell
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Xavier Freeman-Edwards
  5. Lee A. Tolbert, Kiersten Jackson

House B

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Monica Probst
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Hassan Nurini
  3. Lee A. Tolbert, Zion Piper
  4. Turner Middle, Hill Connor
  5. Sumner Academy, Beighly Weiss
House C
  1. Center Middle, Caleb Soliday
  2. Lee A. Tolbert, Aereona Boyd
  3. Lee A. Tolbert, Ericka Hall
  4. Lee A. Tolbert, Josiah Hoskins
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Lucy Hansen

Novice House D

  1. Arrowhead Middle, Colin Barnes
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Monteen Simmons
  3. Central Middle KCK, Isaa Herr
  4. Smith-Hale Middle, Milad Askari
  5. Frontier School Innovation, Blakely Mathis

Novice House E

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Marybeth Eddy
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Lucy Mulholland
  3. Arrowhead Middle, Rhoderic Montgomery
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Anna Crawford
  5. Eisenhower Middle, Javier Brown

Novice House F

  1. Eisenhower Middle, Celina Williams
  2. Smith-Hale Middle, Dremy McQuarters
  3. Rosedale Middle, Gabby Gallindo
  4. Lee A. Tolbert, Donnisha Kelly
  5. Central Middle KCK, Alex Pena

Novice House G

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Irving Meza-Aguirre
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Angel Redmond-Payne
  3. Frontier School of Innovation, Katelyn Heckeroth
  4. Arrowhead Middle, Brielle Christian
  5. Smith-Hale Middle, Shelby Woodroof

Nov

28

DKC Debaters Do Battle at Patton Junior High

November 28, 2011 | congress connection, news, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

The second leg of the DEBATE-Kansas City’s (DKC) weeknight tournament was held at November 8th at Patton Junior High on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth. To DKC’s knowledge this tournament represented a unique first: it was the first time an Urban Debate League tournament was held on a military post.

Students from across the league met and debated two rounds about the merits of pursuing greater support for United States space exploration.

For the second straight tournament the team of Taylor Brunson and Emily Anderson (Patton) took home top honors in policy debate. Their accomplishments are heightened when you consider that these were their first two debate tournaments ever!

Sahreen Kahn of Hickman Mills was the top overall policy debate speaker and has been sharpening her debate skills since middle school.

“Ms. Kahn was a very successful student congress competitor during her time in middle school. Now she has moved up to policy debate where she is looking like a force to be reckoned with,” said Isaac Allen, Program Coordinator of DKC.

The Patton community did an outstanding job as host. “It is the generosity of schools like Patton who host DKC tournaments that make having an Urban Debate League possible,” said Gabe Cook, Director of DKC.  “From the parents who ran concessions and hospitality to the administrators who directed students and secured space, every element of the school community seemed engaged.”  It’s clear the Patton community supports its debate team,” Mr. Cook continued.

In congress Lincoln Prep continued to dominate by winning four out of five awards, which propelled them to a first place sweep stakes award.

A full list of awards is below.

Top 3 Sweepstakes

  1. Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
  2. Patton Junior High
  3. Hickman Mills Junior High

Top 5 Policy Debate Speakers

  1. Hickman Mills, Sahreen Kahn
  2. Patton, John Dabeck
  3. Patton, Taylor Brunson
  4. Patton, Jillian Anderson
  5. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George

Top 5 Policy Debate Teams

  1. Patton, Taylor Brunson & Emily Anderson
  2. Lincoln Prep, Frankie George & Hannah Rose
  3. Hickman \ Patton Sahreen Kahn & John Klug
  4. Patton, Cole Murphy & Jason Green
  5. Lincoln Prep, Corey Fisher & Katherine Ahrens

Top 5 Student Congress

  1. Lincoln Prep, Breanna Garlington
  2. Lincoln Prep, Shakira Johnson
  3. Hickman Mills, Shonda Jackson
  4. Lincoln Prep, Derrick Parker
  5. Lincoln Prep, Stephen Fisher

Nov

4

DKC Middle School Tournament Season Blasts Off at Center

November 4, 2011 | congress connection, news, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

 Center Middle School hosted DKC’s first middle school debate tournament of the season. More than 200 students from 16 schools across Kansas City engaged in two rounds of policy debate and student congress. The competition was fierce, spirited and participants were excited for the season to finally begin.

Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy (LATCA) continued their sweepstake winning streak dating back to last year by posting several top five finishes in congress and policy debate. However, LATCA shouldn’t get too comfortable in the top spot because Foreign Language Academy (FLA) was close behind. FLA’s policy debate team of Adam Maiale and Jack Eddy established themselves as policy debate team to beat by going undefeated and earning the top two speaker awards.

For many students this was the first tournament of their young debate career. Over half of the competitors in congress were placed in the novice division and DKC’s hopes to see these first-timers develop into debate veterans.

The tournament’s success would not have been possible without exceptional support provided by the coaching staff and administration of Center middle. Students were welcomed, directed to their rooms and provided pizza to reward a hard day’s effort.

“Center once again created a comfortable, organized atmosphere for middle school debate,” said Gabe Cook Director of DKC. “We were very lucky to have such tremendous for the first tournament of the season.”

DKC middle school action will continue at Arrowhead Middle School November 17th.

A full list of awards is below:

Policy Debate Team Awards

  1. Foreign Language, Academy  Adam Maiale & Jack Eddy
  2. Lee A. Tolbert, Myesha Gray & Makayla Oliver
  3. Barstow, Alex Wang & Jaelan Trapp
  4. Barstow, Isabel Thomas & Rachel Mathews
  5. Arrowhead, Jasmine Chappell & Taylor Holmes

Policy Debate Speaker Awards

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Adam Maiale
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Jack Eddie
  3. Arrowhead, Louie Andrews
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Ellen Baker
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Nicholas Hickam

House A

  1. Foreign Language Academy, Monica Propst
  2. Lee A Tolbert, Jared Hoskins
  3. Center, Caleb Soliday
  4. Lee A. Tolbert, Kiersten Jackson
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Hassan Nureini

House B

  1. Lee A. Tolbert, Ericka Hall
  2. Center, Catlin Camble
  3. Lee A. Tolbert, Aereana Boyd
  4. Foreign Language Academy,  Adrian Ruiz Gonzalez
  5. Lee A. Tolbert, Isaiah Jones

House C

  1. Lee A Tolbert, Tyra Drone
  2. Rosedale, Ruth Seanez
  3. Rosedale, Gilberto perez
  4. Lee A Tolbert, Ariel Brown
  5. Rosedale, Alejandra Hennaez

 

Novice 1

  1. Rosedale, Alex Allen
  2. Central, Lopez
  3. Argentine, Shannon Hemmingway
  4. Frontier School of Innovation, Day
  5. Turner, Kerry Colston

Novice 2

  1. Arrowhead, Luke Hogue
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Angel Redmond-Payne
  3. Foreign Language Academy, Monteen Simmons
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Allyshia Johnson
  5. Arrowhead, Zeyairia Williams

Novice 3

  1. Eisenhower, Celina Williams
  2. Lee A. Tolbert, Josiah Hoskins
  3. Argentine, Sandra Flores
  4. Foreign Language Academy, Percy Bailey
  5. Foreign Language Academy, Jordan Hirsekorn-Litjohn

Novice 4

  1. Arrowhead, Suan Sonna
  2. Foreign Language Academy, Irving Meza-Aguirre
  3. Foreign Language Academy, Xavier Freeman-Edwards
  4. Eisenhower, Javier Brown
  5. Arrowhead, De’Auan McClaine

Sweepstakes  

  1. Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy
  2. Foreign Language Academy
  3. Barstow
  4. Arrowhead
  5. Sumner

Oct

28

DKC Season Off to Great Start at Wyandotte and Central

October 28, 2011 | congress connection, event, policy debate  |  Leave a Comment

DEBATE-Kansas City’s high school program has stated this year with opening tournaments at Wyandotte High School and Central High School. The Wyandotte affair was a workshop where students had a chance to engage in practice debates against other students from their own team in a tournament like environment. Students debated two rounds and the top speaker from each school was recognized for their effort. A full list of speakers is below.

On Tuesday, October, 18th DKC held its first full high school competition of the season at Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Students from across the league arrived ready to kick-off the new debate season. With the new season came new schools ready to compete in the league. Patton Junior High made there presences know to the league by posting an impressive list of awards, including several speaker awards and winning first place in the policy debate division.

DKC veteran Corey Fisher from Lincoln Prep walked away with top speaking honors. “This season is going to be very fun to watch” said Isaac Allen Program Coordinator for DKC. “We have a lot of new faces competing hard against battle tested debaters the drama promises to entertain the whole season long.” Mr. Allen continued.

Both Wyandotte and Central played the roles of host with flying colors. Student helpers and coaches covered every corner of the tournament making sure attendees could find their way and the tournament ran on-time with no problems. “It is because schools like Central and Wyandotte are willing to open their doors that we are able to have tournaments in the first place.” Said Gabe Cook, Director of DKC.

Both tournaments were a flying success a full list of results follows:

Wyandotte Top Speakers

  1. Dyonna Johnson, Central High School
  2. Anthonee Willis, Wyandotte High School
  3.  Emily Anderson, Patton Junior High
  4.  Sehreen Khan, Hickman Junior High
  5.  Jessica Smith, Derrick Thomas Academy

Central Top Policy Speakers

  1. Corey Fisher, Lincoln Prep
  2. Emily Anderson, Patton Junior High
  3. Frankie George, Lincoln Prep
  4. Taylor Brunson, Patton Junior High
  5. Sehreen Khan, Hickman Mills

Central Top Policy Teams

  1. Taylor Brunson & Emily Anderson, Patton Junior High
  2. Corey Fisher & Katharine Ahrens, Lincoln Prep
  3. Jared Freemon, Lincoln Prep
  4. Nicole Tennant & Ethan Richardson, Patton Junior High
  5. Frankie George & Rose Kenneally, Lincoln Prep

Central Top Student Congress

  1. Brionna, Lincoln prep
  2. Kristal, Hickman Mills
  3. Mishala, Hickman Mills
  4. Tatiyana, Lincoln Prep
  5. Stephon, Lincoln Prep

Oct

27

Support the Law Day Video Contest for U.S. Students in Grades 9 – 12

October 27, 2011 | student oppurtunity  |  Leave a Comment

Support the Law Day Video Contest for U.S. Students in Grades 9 – 12

Invitation from the American Bar Association Young Lawyer Division:

We hope you’ll join us in supporting the 2nd Annual Law Day Video Contest for U.S. students in grades 9-12.  This year’s theme, “No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom.” provides students the opportunity to learn about our legal system, to get creative and to win a trip to Washington, D.C.  The entry deadline is February 15, 2012.

You can show your support by:

  • “Liking” the contest facebook page.
  • Reaching out to local schools and teachers, parents or students you know (sample letters and a promotional flyer are available online).
  • Sharing information with your facebook friends, twitter followers and LinkedIn connections.

Contact ABA YLD Program Associate, Renee Lugo at renee.lugo@americanbar.org or 312-988-5626 if you have any questions.

Check out last year’s winning video, “John Adams Legacy:  A Short Animated Film” by 9th grader, Bhargav Tarpara from Belleville High School in Belleville, NJ.

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