ASAP Debate: Building a Community of Leaders!

“With debate you really get to express how you feel.”
-Angel Adams, 8th Grade, Morrison School, ASAP Debate

A New Community of Leaders

Brett Dunlap is a lead middle school social studies teacher at Andrew J. Morrison School, a neighborhood public school in North Philadelphia. Going into this year, Brett was concerned that some of his students might not have somewhere safe to go after school. He felt his students needed a place they could relax. But he felt they also needed a space where they could speak their minds and see other perspectives.

Enter ASAP Debate. 

“Debate was something new to the students and we had no history of debating in our school. So the kids didn’t know what to expect. They just knew, ‘I want to argue.’ And then of course when you’re trying to structure something in an organized manner, no one wants to talk.”
– Brett Dunlap, ASAP Debate Coach, Morrison School

Leaders in Training

To give the Morrison students a vision of where their debate team could go, ASAP staff leaders invited them to observe one of its monthly middle school tournaments. After witnessing their peer leaders from across the city present their arguments on the topic of cyberbullying, the Morrison students felt inspired.

As lead coach for Morrison School, for Brett the tournament was equally eye-opening.

“We all fall victim to categorizing people, generalizing, and falling into certain stereotypes. So to see the number of kids and the types of kids who were actually interested, that was exciting for me.”
-Brett

Mentorship Builds Strong Leaders

To support Morrison and get the students ready to compete on their own, ASAP Debate paired the Morrison team with two experienced ASAP high school lead debaters — Iya Nealy from Girls’ High and Ana Sorrentino from Masterman School — to serve as their peer mentors and leaders.

“The high school mentors are great. Their composure, their maturity level, their knowledge of the process, their willingness. They just seemed so far advanced that the kids really respected what they said. They really respected them as debate coaches. I don’t think they look at them as high school students. They look at them as somebody who’s far more knowledgeable and they really can learn from them.”
– Brett

Leaders inside & outside the classroom

And the skills the Morrison student leaders have gained through debate aren’t only helping them win debate matches. Brett noticed during the school day, his students from debate club are speaking up more in front of the class, their writing is improving and they’re gaining more confidence.  He also feels strongly that having ASAP Debate at Morrison has helped to mitigate even some behavioral issues that one might normally have during the school day. 

And how do the student leaders feel?

“Debate makes it easy to communicate with other people about anything in a respectful manner.”
– Jasi Sawyer, 8th grade, Morrison School, ASAP Debate

“I like that everybody gets to talk and our coaches and mentors give us great tips on debating.”
– Riley Epps, 8th Grade, Morrison School, ASAP Debate

ASAP Debate is grateful to partner with teachers like Brett and high school mentors like Iya and Ana who help to create a space for students to feel safe to speak their mind while building a community of future advocates and leaders. 

But we need your help!

You can support ASAP’s community of future leaders by making a donation at www.phillyasap.org/donate

Click here to donate to ASAP!

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