Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP Sponsors Chicago Middle School Summer Debate Tournament
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP’s Diversity Committee is proud to sponsor the upcoming Swanson Martin & Bell, LLP Chicago Middle School Summer Debate Tournament at Whitney Young High School in Chicago on August 3-4, 2017. The tournament is offered and managed by the Chicago Debate Commission (CDC) together with Chicago Public Schools (CPS).The CDC provides competitive academic debate programming by running the Chicago Debate League (CDL), the largest urban policy debate program in the country, in partnership with CPS. The Middle School Debate Tournament concludes a two-week summer camp, Chicago Middle School Debate Institute, which keeps students engaged in learning during the summer and prepares them for a successful school year.
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP partnered with the CDL in an effort to help increase the pipeline for the development of minority lawyers. CDL participants are 76 percent low-income and 84 percent students of color. This year, the CDC will serve about 1,400 students in 75 Chicago middle and high schools (73 are part of CPS.).
Debate has been shown to have meaningful effects in improving GPAs, high school graduation rates, college-readiness and school engagement for students across the academic spectrum, including students at risk of educational failure.
“Debate provides great preparation for students who may be interested in the legal field, as debate teaches them skills that lawyers use every day: critical thinking, organization, evidence-based argumentation and advocacy,” said Arthur J. Reliford, Jr., Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP partner and Diversity Committee chair. “Our lawyers look forward to participating in the tournament.”
For more information on the upcoming summer debates camps for middle and high school students, please visit this link: http://chicagodebateleague.org/summer/.
