A letter from the founders
In a world full of increasing misinformation and partisanship, the case for universal access to debate & civics programs becomes apparent. Today, roughly 70% of all schools in the United States don’t have access to a debate program. The importance of debate is clear: among students deemed unlikely to graduate high-school, there is a 39% increase in graduation rates for those who participate in debate.
Unfortunately, these opportunities are not always evenly distributed. Our mission is to rectify this by developing a debate and civics program in every school and every district across the world.
Six years ago in late 2014, the four of us, all high school debaters ourselves, saw an opportunity to develop a local debate program at Harvey Green Elementary School. A few months later, we were teaching a small group of 30 students in the auditorium, teaching the basics of public speaking and judging practice debates. We soon asked ourselves - could we mobilize other high school students involved in similar civic-minded activities (Debate, Model UN, Mock Trial, JSA) to help teach elementary and middle school debate & civics programs of their own?
What started as a simple initiative in Fremont has turned into a worldwide movement. This fall, we are incredibly excited to impact students in 12 states, 6 countries, and hundreds of schools with our team of 150+ leaders and volunteers.
The journey so far hasn’t always been easy, however.
In the fall of 2015, Horner’s (our middle school) debate team shut down. The advisor, due to personal commitments, stepped down, and with low extracurricular budgets, there wasn’t enough infrastructure or funding to keep the club going. The team that had shaped each of our lives, personalities, and friendships was gone.
The next year, we implemented a lobbying initiative to revitalize the Horner Debate team. Eventually, after much persuasion and rallying heartwarming community support, the team was back in action, running under Fremont Debate Academy’s instruction. In the Spring of 2017, FDA Horner placed #1 in the South Bay Debate league. The effort instilled in us the power of student initiated empowerment.
When Covid-19 shocked the worldwide schooling system, our team relentlessly worked to shift to online instruction. This effort is including but not limited to: creating an expansive Youtube Channel, developing a teacher’s guide for leaders and school teachers, and utilizing softwares such as Google Classroom, EDpuzzle, and Tabroom to conduct online sessions and tournaments. This has allowed us to exponentially increase our reach and remove barriers to access. This summer, in our fifth annual camp, we’ve impacted students from 36 schools, 13 cities, and 4 states. Truly, in every challenge lies an opportunity. Can we conduct a FDA international tournament next year?
Partnerships have increasingly become important for us to diversify the students we reach. Last year, we worked with the Sakhi for Girls Foundation and changemaker Aarti Naik to teach girls from the Mulund slum area basic public speaking and argumentation skills. We’re excited to work with the incredible Broward County Public Schools system to train dozens of their teachers the MSPDP Debate Format with our proprietary curriculum. We’ve embarked on an initiative with various Teach For America regions to collaborate with teachers on bringing debate & civics programs to low income schools and students who need it the most.
Our leadership and volunteer team, composed of 90% high school students, is nothing short of incredible. Over the past few years, they’ve acted as not only leads for schools, but strategists and innovators in our rapid expansion. They’ve worked long hours to ship out new curriculum, scaling and standardizing our programs worldwide, and judging practice debates. Thank you to each and every one of them.
Something we’re especially proud about is seeing former FDA students become leaders within our own organization. Darsh Singhania, Richa Ray, and Caroline Xin, students from the very first FDA Horner program & FDA’s Vice Presidents of Education are the creators of our Youtube Channel and the teacher’s guide distributed to hundreds of instructors. Drishti Gupta, Vice President of PR and Outreach, has been instrumental for international expansion, initiating one of our first programs in India, and sourcing leaders in countries like Singapore. To say that things have come full circle would be an understatement.
Of course, we owe a thank you to so many others. Thank you to Nageshwara Routhu & Kim Kelly from Harvey Green (2015) for inspiring and supporting us 5 years ago. Thank you to James Morris, former Superintendent of Education at FUSD, for teaching us the value of community when you helped us revitalize Horner Debate. Thank you to our Horner Debate instructor Mrs. Caine for teaching us how to love debate and think on our feet 9 years ago. And thank you to hundreds of other parent volunteers, teachers, and members & staff of school administrations without whom this could have never been possible.
Over the past few years, we’ve been able to advise and witness several student-run non-profits come to life. These organizations have taught students across the world about biology, business, and have contributed towards social progress. This is, perhaps, what we are the most excited about.
In the end, it really comes down to what you define as success. One fair definition of success could be the amount of tournaments championed, the prestige of one’s college, or even a starting salary. But something we’ve learned is that success isn’t just about what you accomplish this year. To us, success is equally the acknowledgement and satisfaction that we’ve set a base and platform for the next generation to go further than we have.
And so we urge all the students and leaders we impact to keep striving towards that notion of success. Cherish the work you do. The resulting passion and ambition will allow you to leave a lasting impact on the world.
Rishabh, Rachit, William, & Vasuman
August 2020