Silicon Valley Urban Debate League

During the 2021-2022 school year, SVUDL worked with 11 high school partners in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, serving more than 560 students. Of these students, 265 students participated in the highest level of involvement--attending 10+ practices and at least 1 tournament. In addition to afterschool Speech & Debate programming, SVUDL has been more active in the classroom--working with each of our 11 high school partners to develop a customized plan that also includes Speech & Debate Curriculum Offerings and Debate Centered Instruction (DCI). This comprehensive approach provides for rigorous instruction, student engagement, and teacher support. SVUDL staff and Teacher Coaches spent more than 68,000 hours with students throughout the year. In addition, students participated in 8 Professional Access visits where they were engaged in activities that expanded their horizons, opportunities, and networks. SVUDL also held 2 national Speech & Debate tournaments (Ryan Mills Invitational and the John Lewis Invitational) in 2022 that brought together more than 1,700 students, in person and virtually, from more than 7 states across the nation to compete in nearly two dozen different Speech and Debate events.