NYC UDL Makes History

HISTORY AT HARVARD!

BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT RECOGNIZES TOP NYC DEBATERS!

Our NYC Great Debaters made history at the Harvard Invitational Tournament after defeating the top ranked debate team in the nation to reach the Semifinals of one of the nation’s toughest tournaments – and an invitation to the Tournament of Champions – the nation’s most prestigious debate tournament!  For the first time in history, students from the South Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn reached elimination rounds of the Harvard High School Debate Invitational!   Days later, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in his State of the Borough speech shouted out the Great Debaters of the South Bronx!

NEW YORK CITY DEBATE TEAMS MAKE HISTORY AT THE HARVARD DEBATE INVITATIONAL!

Hundreds of debate teams from across the country and world!  3 days!  11 rounds of debates!  2 hours each round!  22 hours of debates!  You wont find a more rigorous academic program in the world!  And you wont find any other debate program in the country more competitive than the New York City Urban Debate League! New York City teams dominated the Harvard Debate Tournament in both the Novice and Varsity divisions of Policy Debate as well as Public Forum Debate.  NYCUDL schools of Brooklyn Tech, ACORN Community High School, Poly Prep and the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice all reached elimination rounds and took some of the top awards in the tournament!  The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice made history by defeating the top debate teams in the country including the #1 Team in the country to reach the Semifinals and a bid to the prestigious Tournament of Champions.
We wanted to shout out Harvard Debate, the Buskaret Family and Brown Rudnick for sponsoring the Tournament and providing the opportunities for all NYC teams to visit Harvard, compete at Harvard, and win at Harvard!  Thank you everyone!
BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT RUBEN DIAZ JR. SHOUTS OUT GREAT DEBATERS IN ANNUAL STATE OF BOROUGH SPEECH!

On February 19th, Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr. delivered an inspiring speech about the “New Bronx” and how the Bronx is quickly becoming one of the nation’s most inspiring communities.  And of course one of the most powerful stories of the New Bronx that is leading the nation are the debate teams in the South Bronx that have defeated the top debate programs in the country at every single tournament from Yale in September to Harvard in February!  According to Bronx Borough President,

“Without great schools, we would not have … one of the nation’s top debate teams at the Bronx High School for Law, Government and Justice…..There is so much to do, and so much I am proud of.  Abraham Lincoln, perhaps one of the greatest presidents, once said that, “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”  Every single day we are working to build a new future for the Bronx.  Each day in our Bronx – the New Bronx – represents a great step forward to a more better future.  Good things are happening here, and there’s more to come.  We spent many years, many decades building our borough.  We’ve taken past successes and built upon them Generation after generation of Bronxites – including many of you here today and our mayor Ed Koch – put in the hard work to make this borough what it is.  Look around you.  Look at how the work has paid off.  The seeds we planted so many decades ago are bearing fruit.  And it doesn’t stop there.  We have to keep going.  We must persevere.  We must push forward. During the next four years we will – together as “one Bronx” – as a New Bronx, bring about meaningful change to our borough.  God bless you, God bless the Bronx and God bless America!”

Thank you to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.!  Thank you to all our Bronx supporters!  And thank you to every Borough in New York for supporting New York City’s leading academic program! Every student needs to be a Great Debater!  Every student needs to be a Great Leader!  And that is how we all build a New New York City together.