Baltimore’s local NBC affiliate, WBAL TV 11, recently covered a Baltimore Urban Debate League public debate in honor of Black History Month:
Some Baltimore city high school students said they believe there is a connection between crime and “gangsta rap” music, and the issue was hotly debated Tuesday among teenagers who have opposing views on the issue.
The Baltimore League, along with one or two others, is pretty much the envy of every other UDL in the other country. They’ve got a program with extraordinary reach, involving every public high school and many middle schools in the city and with strong connections to the public school system, the state university system (particularly Towson University), and the local media. A few years ago, they even managed to get a piece on 60 Minutes which to this day is one of the promotional materials of choice for every UDL in the country.
The Baltimore Sun also covered the debate and hammered home the point about just how large and successful the BUDL is:
Organizers of the event tapped students from the Baltimore Urban Debate League – a nonprofit organization that helps students acquire debate skills and that works with about 1,000 students a year in about 60 city schools. The program targets teenagers who are in danger of dropping out of school and helps them become strong debaters and better students, said the league’s executive director, Pam Spiliadis.
Spiliadis said the strongest students travel to regional and national competitions.
“Ninety percent of our students graduate and 90 percent go on to college,” Spiliadis said. “Which is quite different than the general statistics in the city.”