MEDIA ADVISORY April 4, 2013
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez will be the featured speaker at the April 7 Awards Ceremony for the 2013 Chicago Debate Championship. Annette Gurley, Chief Officer of Teaching and Learning at CPS, will also offer remarks and congratulations at the ceremony.
Approximately 325 students from 45 high schools around the city will be competing to become the 2013 Chicago Debate Champion, in this three-day culminating tournament of the Chicago Debate League’s six-tournament season. Students will debate the 2013 national policy debate topic, arguing critical economic, political, and foreign policy issues surrounding the U.S.’s transportation infrastructure.
The April 7 Awards Ceremony comes at the end of the second day of competition and features speaker awards and season-long recognition awards. Attendees will include principals, teachers, judges, Chicago Debate League students and alumni, and representatives of CPS, the Chicago Debate Commission (CDC), and tournament sponsors Allstate Corporation and Illinois Road Transportation Builders Association. The championship tournament will conclude on April 8 with the crowning of Chicago’s 16th annual citywide debate champion. Top teams in the Chicago Debate League will compete later this month at the national urban debate championship, which Chicago teams have won three of the past five years.
The CDC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, partners with CPS and private sector supporters to bring the opportunity to debate to Chicago students. Debate programming is a proven strategy to increase grades, graduation rates and college readiness for at-risk students. This year, nearly 1300 students – most of them low-income minorities — from 70 Chicago schools have participated in the CDC’s programs.
WHO: Anita Alvarez, Annette Gurley and other CPS representatives, the CDC, Allstate, Illinois Road Transportation Builders Association, CPS principals, teachers and students.
WHAT: The 2013 Chicago Debate Championships Awards Ceremony
WHERE: Northwestern University, Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston
WHEN: April 7, 2013, from 3:30-5 p.m.
WHY: The three-day Chicago Debate Championship Tournament (April 6-8) brings together over 300 students from 45 high schools to compete to be named City Champion in debate. The Awards Ceremony honors year-long success, as well as top tournament speakers.
Contact: Edie Canter, Executive Director
Chicago Debate Commission
ediecanter@resources.chicagodebates.org
312-427-0524 x4101