Baltimore Urban Debate League

The Baltimore Urban Debate League, commonly referred to as BUDL (pronounced 'boodle'), is a non profit organization that is educationally based and partially a mentorship for inner city school children in middle schools and high schools. The organization is based in Baltimore, Maryland and is active in schools apart of the Baltimore City Public School System.The main focus, in coordination with the Towson University Speech and Debate Team, is to teach students policy debate, but in recent years doing so has shown that the majority of the students involved have massively improved study habits, school work, attendance, and overall community involvement.

History

The league was started by a grant from the George Soros Open Society Institute in 1998. The first year it only operated in about 8 high schools around Baltimore City. Since then the program has expanded into over 35 high schools, 21 middle schools, and countless hundreds of what could be thousands of students across the metropolis. There have been many students in the league that have gone on to compete in national and international tournaments sanctioned by several debate associations including:

• New York Urban Debate League
• New Jersey Urban Debate League
• Catholic Forensic League
• National Forensic League
• International Debate Education Association

Several students have also won scholarships to go to "debate camps" over the summer. These are intensive training workshops for preparation for the upcoming debate topic. Some of those include:

• Wake Forest University
• Towson University
• The Catholic University of America
• Emory University
• University of Louisville
• Northwestern University
• University of Vermont

At first BUDL was only available to high school students, but in the 2005-2006 season, they incorporated the successful high school model into middle schools around the city. Middle school students also have the opportunity to go to debate camp at the the Towson University Debate Institute, commonly referred to as TIDI, as a workshop to help with their debate skills. The same workshop is also available free to high school students as well over the summer.

Mission

According to the league's webisite:

...to enrich the academic experience of students from Baltimore City's public high schools through participation in team policy debate. The Baltimore Urban Debate League is especially interested in students with untapped potential, who are disengaged from the contemporary high school classroom. For these students, and for traditionally successful students as well, debate often becomes the most rewarding activity of their high school career. Because debate requires self-directed learning and includes opportunities for competitive success, it motivates students who have never before felt the thrill of being responsible and rewarded for their own learning.

Debate Format

The league only offers policy debate instead of other speech events. This could be due to financial constraints or because its mission is to teach students how to apply policy debate to their school work, which speech cannot offer. However, students can compete in tournaments and speech events offered by the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League.

Member Schools

High Schools in the league:

• ACCE High School
• Baltimore Career Academy
• Baltimore City College
• Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
• Carver Vocational Technical High School
• Connexions High
• Coppin Academy
• Digital Harbor High School
• Dr. Samuel L. Banks High School
• Edmondson/Westside High School
• Forest Park High School
• Francis M. Wood Alternative High School
• Frederick Douglass High School
• Freedom Academy
• Harbor City Learning
• Heritage High School
• Independence School
• Lake Clifton Eastern High School
• Medical Arts Academy
• Mergenthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School
• National Academy Foundation
• New Era Academy
• Northwestern High School
• Patterson High School
• Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
• Reginald Lewis High School
• Renaissance High School
• Southside Academy
• Southwestern High School
• Talent Development
• Thurgood Marshall High School
• WEB Dubois High School
• Walbrook Uniform Service Academy High School
• Western High School

Middle Schools in the league:

• Booker T. Washington Middle School
• Benjamin Franklin Junior High
• Calverton Middle School
• Canton Middle School
• Chinquapin Middle School
• Connexions Middle School
• Diggs Johnson Middle School
• Hamilton Middle School
• Harlem Park Middle School
• Lombard Middle School
• Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School
• Pimlico Middle School
• Robert Poole Middle School
• Roland Park Middle School
• Roland Patterson Middle School
• Thurgood Marshall Middle School
• West Baltimore Middle School
• Westport Academy
• William H Lemmel Middle School
• Winston Middle School

League Champions

Some trophies and medallions at the annual awards banquet.

The year's champion is decided by how many wins each school accumulates over the season in BUDL tournaments, not including out-of-state or Catholic Forensic League tournaments. The league didn't start doing a "champion" until 1999 because the league was not big enough in the first year.

• 1999-2000 Northwestern High School
• 2000-2001 Forest Park High School
• 2001-2002 Walbrook High School
• 2002-2003 Walbrook High School
• 2003-2004 Baltimore City College
• 2004-2005 Baltimore City College
• 2005-2006 Merganthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School

In Media

• BUDL is arguably considered the most popular debate league due to its national coverage on the national news magazine 60 Minutes. The segment featured star debaters from Walbrook High School and their coach Angelo Brooks. The students talk about how debate had changed their life and inspired them to go to get better grades in school and go to college.

• Local news outlets, which include WMAR, WNUV, WJZ, WBAL and WBFF have covered several public debates held by the league. Possibly some of the most notable coverage happened during the 2004 crisis at Walbrook High. The school had recently changed the principal, due to criminal accusations on Dr. Andrey Bundley. As a result multiple fights, fires, one shooting, and overall disrupt of the school environment occurred. The debate team was featured prominently in news stories to highlight its successes at the school.

External links

• Open Society Institute, article about 60 minutes story

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