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Dear Big Red Speech & Debate Family and Friends,
We did it! And the best part is, we did this together with you! With your generosity, with your support, and with your commitment to supporting a more engaged society, we are able to further expand and strengthen our mission to advance civil discourse!
We are sincerely thankful for having the opportunity to work with all of you on this mission. Your investment and trust in us is already creating results. As we write this, we are about to announce our national public debate series round the theme of "Free speech on university campuses" launching with the first stop in Washington, D.C. next February. We have recently kicked off series of virtual debate training and coaching sessions with university debate programs in Africa and South America. Locally, we are connecting with rural school districts in upstate New York so that more youth can experience the importance of argumentation and debate skills.
These exciting new programs are just a number of ways we seek to advance public discourse and civic engagement in the coming months and years. Without your encouragement and support, we could only dream about these ideas.
Thank you again for your contributions to our crowdfunding campaign this year. We look forward to staying connected and sharing more great news in the coming months!
Sincerely,
Sam Nelson and Ming-Hao Shiao
2017 Cornell Speech & Debate Crowdfunding Campaign
Friends of Big Red Speech & Debate,
We hope that this day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday week finds you well! We are excited to be returning back to see that we have ACHIEVED and SURPASSED the matching campaign challenged raised by Larry Rosenberg '89.
With your generosity and support, we raised nearly $3,000 to Larry's $2,500 challenge, making us that much closer to reaching our goal of raising $15,000 to expand our work to "Advance Civil Discourse" regionally, nationally, and globally!
With the inclusion of Larry's gift of $2,500, we have $1,400 left to raise in the remaining days of November to meet our goal of $15,000. Please continue to us achieve our mission - share your own story of your love for speech and debate, or share stories like Janelle Vuong here. As a 2017 Mayoral Scholarship recipient, Janelle received a scholarship to attend the Cornell International Summer Debate and meet with other students just as energized and enthusiastic to advance their argumentation, debate, and public speaking skills!
Motivated by her experience, Janelle is now launching a debate club at her high school because she wants more people to experience the opportunities that one can gain from having argumentation, debate and persuasive speaking skills! We love meeting students like Janelle!
Thank you!
Sam Nelson and Ming-Hao Shiao
2017 Cornell Speech & Debate Crowdfunding Campaign
Dear Friends of Speech & Debate,
We have some exciting news!
Your generous contributions have inspired a matching gift campaign! Special thanks to Larry Rosenberg '89 for his generosity and support. Larry will match funds raised up to $2,500.
Free speech and civil discourse continues to be of critical importance. Help us reach our goal to further deliver our mission to spread speech and debate further! Please consider a contribution today if you have not made one yet to help double the impact. Share our project page at: https://crowdfunding.cornell.edu/speechdebateoutreach.
Thank you!
Sam Nelson
Director, Speech & Debate
From the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., we believed that we could and with your help, we have raised beyond the halfway point of our crowdfunding goal!
Thank you for your contributions. We would not be here without your generosity and without your investment in time and energy into our program. Whether you are a current member, an alumni or a family and/or friend of the CSDS community, please know that we value the connection we have with you and we see this as a responsibility to continue strengthening this connection by delivering our broader mission of advancing civil discourse!
One of the ways in which we have successfully done this is through our debate fellows program. Spreading speech and debate around the world is something we can't do alone. The debate fellows program invites new debate coaches which we have trained through our international workshops to Ithaca to learn the ropes from our experienced faculty and staff.
Palesa Mojapelo, a participant in the 2016 and 2017 Cornell-Pearson summer debate workshops held on the Pearson Institute of Higher Education campus in Midrand (Johannesburg), South Africa, was selected as one of our first debate fellows. Read more about her experience here with Cornell debate. If you are like us, you will be infected with her enthusiasm, dedication and endless energy to spreading speech and debate far and wide in her home country!
With just under half our goal to achieve, please continue to help spread the word about our crowdfunding campaign by sharing our story and link (https://crowdfunding.cornell.edu/speechdebateoutreach) so that we may continue to grow programs such as our Debate Fellows program to more people like Palesa!
Thank you again and let's keep on believing!
Sam Nelson and Ming-Hao Shiao
2017 CSDS Crowdfunding Team
To directly access the article on Palesa, please go to: http://forensics.cornell.edu/we-love-pks-infectious-enthusiasm-for-debate
Dear Speech & Debate Family,
Thank you for the generous contributions in the first 10 days of our crowdfunding campaign to "Advance Civil Discourse with Big Red Speech & Debate"! We are excited that so many of you continue to support our mission for spreading speech and debate around the world and look forward to expanding our network for a more engaged society!
Your generosity directly impacts the people that we meet, teach, train and coach. We believe that the opportunities we have had and continue to pursue to showcase the power of argumentation, debate, persuasive communication and public speaking skills is a privilege and a responsibility. Importantly, we expand our own perspectives and ways of thinking when we learn from those we meet.
Angie Gonzalez, a high school student from Akron, Ohio, is one of these examples. As a middle school student, Angie was selected to participate in the Inquiring Minds Summer Debate Camp, a joint program supported by Cornell Speech & Debate Society, Claremont McKenna College, and a group of like-minded community organizations in Akron. Held at the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM Middle School, Angie was exposed to debate for the first time, and with her peers and coaches, learned that the power of persuasion could help her realize her future dreams to become an immigration lawyer. As the child of Guatemalan refugees, Angie saw her unique perspective in sharing her story and also utilizing her cross-cultural experiences to help others.
With your support, we are excited to meet and to help more students like Angie discover the power of unleashing their voices for a better society!
Thank you,
Sam Nelson
Director, Cornell Speech & Debate
Supply materials for one after-school session for middle and high school students.
Provide one public speaking and argumentation training workshop for on-campus organizations and departments
Support virtual debate training sessions with international debate programs in Africa and South America.
Award scholarship assistance to youth to attend argumentation and debate training.
Sponsor one professional development seminar for K-12 educators to incorporate debate across the curriculum.
Reward debate fellowships to university students abroad to attend annual International Summer Debate Camp.
Launch public debate series on campus and in multiple cities across the U.S.