279 students debated for 6,900 minutes at the English in Action Middle School Debate Championship

NEW YORK - May 11, 2018 - PRLog -- Should reptiles be pets? Should the Olympics include video games? Should the US adopt a guaranteed minimum income level? These are just a few of the topics middle school students debated during the English in Action Middle School Debate Championship Tournament on May 5 in New York City. 279 debaters from 33 schools from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and Colorado converged at the Nest +m public school to participate in the seventh annual tournament.

Rachel Carson Middle School from Herndon, Virginia won the final debate against The Dalton School from New York, New York. Taking home the Top Speaker and coveted Golden Gavel awards was Jasmine Sanchez of West End Secondary School in New York, NY for earning top individual speaker points across all five rounds of debate.

Middle School Debate teaches the fundamentals of argumentation and debate to students in grades 5-8 while developing their critical thinking and language arts skills. More than 50 public, private, parochial and charter schools participate in the program, engaging more than 1,000 teenagers annually in weekly after-school debate activities.

The English in Action Middle School Debate Program is a joint venture with Middle School Public Debate Program at Claremont McKenna College, the world's largest program for classroom and contest debating for middle school students.

The English-Speaking Union, under the banner English in Action, is a non-profit educational charity that employs English as a catalyst to foster global understanding and good will through education and cultural exchange. Founded in 1920 the ESU is a national organization with more than 65 branches nationwide and affiliated with a network of more than 50 ESUs around the world. Our educational programs focus on teacher enrichment and immigrant support, international exchange and public speaking.

Award Listings

Top Speaker and Winner of the Gavel: Jasmine Sanchez of West End Secondary School in Manhattan, NY

2nd Place Speaker: Andrew Dupper of Rocky Heights Middle School in Lone Tree, CO

3rd Place Speaker: Jake Berg of The Dalton School in Manhattan, NY

1st Place Team and Winner of Public Championship Debate: Vivikta Rao, Amrita Sahu and Julia Lamy of Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, VA

2nd Place Team: Theo Avedisian, Alejandro Breen, and Jake Berg of The Dalton School in Manhattan, NY

3rd Place Team: Maya Miller, Maymay Shair, Catherine Lapey of The Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY

1st Place School: The Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY

2nd Place School: Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, VA

3rd Place School: Cedar Hill Preparatory School in Somerset, NJ

1st Place Tournament Award was a 3-way tie between: Norwood School (Bethesda, MD), South Orangetown Middle School (S. Orangetown, CT) and West End Secondary School (New York, NY)

4th Place Tournament Award: The Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY

5th Place Tournament Award: Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, VA

Top League Schools

Douglas County (CO) Debate League: Rocky Heights Middle School

New York Debate League (Big Apple Division): The Dalton School

New York Debate League (Empire Division): The Hackley School

Nation's Capital Debate League: Rachel Carson Middle School

Jersey Shore Debate League: Cedar Hill Preparatory School

Garden State Debate League: Barkalow Middle School

Connecticut Middle School Debate League: South Orangetown Middle School

Middle School Debate teaches the fundamentals of argumentation and debate to students in grades 5-8 while developing their critical thinking and language arts skills. More than 50 public, private, parochial and charter schools participate in the program, engaging more than 1,000 teenagers annually in weekly after-school debate activities.

The English in Action Middle School Debate Program is a joint venture with Middle School Public Debate Program at Claremont McKenna College, the world's largest program for classroom and contest debating for middle school students.

The English-Speaking Union, under the banner English in Action, is a non-profit educational charity that employs English as a catalyst to foster global understanding and good will through education and cultural exchange. Founded in 1920 the ESU is a national organization with more than 65 branches nationwide and affiliated with a network of more than 50 ESUs around the world. Our educational programs focus on teacher enrichment and immigrant support, international exchange and public speaking.

For additional information, please visit https://www.esuus.org/esu/programs/middle_school_debate.

English in Action educational programs focus on teacher enrichment, immigrant support, scholarships and youth speaking programs. Each year, our programs serve more than 60,000 teachers, students, volunteers and immigrants around the US.

English in Action programs include:

English in Action Conversations pair English language learners with trained volunteers to improve their English fluency through a one-on-one cultural exchange.

Andrew Romay New Immigrant Center (ARNIC) improves the lives of recent immigrants through education and cultural programs and integration into American society.

Luard Morse Scholarships sends students from historically Black colleges to study for a semester at a British university.

Middle School Debate builds research, critical thinking and public speaking skills through debate tournaments.

National Shakespeare Competition develops high school students' analytical and communication skills through performing Shakespeare at the school, community and national levels.

Secondary School Exchange sends high school graduates to British boarding schools for a gap year abroad.

Travel and Learn Abroad (TLab)provides teachers and lifelong learners educational enrichment programs at Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, Shakespeare's Globe and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.