ESU New York Debate League

 

Welcome to the ESU New York Debate League!

2024-2025 Academic Year

Middle School Debate Registration Open Now!

ESU New York Debate League 2024-2025 

TOURNAMENT Schedule

Due to popular demand, most of the ESU NY Debate League tournaments will be hosted by 2 schools: 

  • Saturday, October 19 2024 at Dalton School: Novice Debaters Workshop & Scrimmage
  • Saturday, November 9, 2024 at Nightingale-Bamford School/Packer Collegiate School
  • Saturday, December 14, 2024 at Blind Brook School/Packer Collegiate School
  • Saturday, January 25, 2025 at Dalton School
  • Saturday, March 1, 2025 at Speyer Legacy School
  • Saturday, March 8, 2025 at Ethical Culture Fieldston School
  • Saturday, April 26, 2025 at Tuckahoe School: Championship Tournament

REMINDER: EACH SCHOOL MUST PROVIDE ONE JUDGE FOR EVERY TWO TEAMS

Only two, 2-person teams allowed per tournament. The rest of the teams must be 3-person teams.

Can you host a Saturday Debate Tournament at your school during the 2024-25 season? Email us at debate@esuus.org.

2023-2024 School Year

TOURNAMENT schedule

  • Novice Debaters Workshop & Scrimmage Oct 14, 2023 at City & Country School
  • November 4 at Nightingale-Bamford School
  • December 2, 2023 at Dalton School
  • January 20, 2024 at Tuckahoe School
  • March 2, 2024 at Ethical Culture Fieldston School
  • April 27, 2024 Championship Tournament at Speyer School

REMINDER: EACH SCHOOL MUST PROVIDE ONE JUDGE FOR EVERY TWO TEAMS.
Can you host a debate at your school during the 2023-24 season? Email us at debate@esuus.org.

 

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS:

  • City and Country School
  • Dwight School
  • East New York Middle School of Excellence
  • Ethical Culture Fieldston
  • Grace School
  • Hackley School
  • Hoboken Charter School
  • Nightingale-Bamford School
  • Speyer Legacy School
  • The Dalton School
  • Tuckahoe Middle School
  • United Nations International School
  • West End Secondary School

Program Contact

 

Alice Uhl, ESU Education Programs Director

auhl@esuus.org

(212) 818-1200, ext. 212

 


 

LOCAL CONTACT

Nick Smart
President
ESU New York Debate League
 nickdavidsmart@gmail.com

 


“Debating in the ESU NYDL was one of the highlights of my students’ year. The ESU NY Debate League has been exceptionally welcoming and kind to us, and we are so appreciative of the high quality tournaments we were part of this year . . . they chose great topics, and created an environment where even in the most difficult situation imaginable, the kids were able to have high quality, spirited debates.”

– Mark Schiller Debate Coach for Blessed Sacrament School in Washington DC

Debate Team from the Hackley School wins 2016 English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Championship Tournament

NATIONAL NEWS – posted May 1, 2016

The Hackley School, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Kiri Fitzpatrick, Hannah Ostfield, Alex Goldman

The English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program capped off a successful fifth year with its annual Championship Tournament, which took place at Stone Bridge Middle School in Allentown, NJ, on April 16, 2016. All six ESU Middle School Debate Program leagues participated bringing together 250 debaters from 29 schools from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

The English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program teaches the fundamentals of argumentation and debate to students in grades 5-8. Established in 2011, the program now includes three ESU-sponsored leagues in New York, two in New Jersey and one in Washington, DC. Some 50 public, private, parochial and charter schools participate in the program, engaging more than 1,000 teenagers annually in weekly after-school debate activities designed to develop and hone student’s public speaking, critical thinking, listening and debating skills.

Read Full Story

 

The New York Times features ESU Middle School Debate

The ESU is pleased to share today’s The New York Times article, “A Diverse Mix of Pupils, Learning Civilized Dissent,” featuring the ESU Middle School Debate program’s New York Debate League. Now in its fourth year, the program, designed to help young adolescents develop critical thinking and language arts skills through public speaking, has reached more than 2,300 students in grades 5 to 8 in New York and New Jersey. There are nearly 900 individual debates through this program annually.

The article underscores one of the Middle School Debate program’s strengths—bringing together students from various backgrounds that, as Brianna Scott (a seventh grader at Success Academy Harlem West) says, “prepare[s] you to go out into the world.”

Read the article here