Former Urban Debater Spreads Debate in Liberia

I came across this pretty cool article about a student I worked with when I was an administrator for the Chicago Debate League. Chime Asonye was definitely one of the most ambitious and talented of the hundreds of debaters in that League, and even after I left Chicago and he had graduated from high school, he continued to seek me out to ask me questions about debate. I’m very excited to see that he’s been able to use his experiences to spread debate in post-war Liberia.

You should click here to read the full article, but here’s an excerpt:

“Asonye believes a great impact took place in those three days. He heard a newfound confidence in [his students’] voices.

One student, from Cuttington University, approached Asonye and said after camp, “Wow! That really expanded my mind.” Only a few days later he hosted a debate at his school and asked Asonye to judge it.

“Grassroots debate was there,” Asonye said. These were the tangible changes Asonye enjoyed. “”