Global Youth Philanthropy_Boston (GYP) has a student-run speech and debate club that allows elementary to high school students to share their interests and passion for speech and debate. This club provides our students a channel to use their skills for various community service and philanthropic projects, such as intercultural communication and mentor programs for disadvantaged student groups. GYP Debate has worked with international high schools worldwide to forge connections and inclusivity. In the meantime, this club also helps build student leadership and confidence so that every student may have their voice heard.
Debate Classes
GYP Debate Club organizes debate classes every semester, taught by students. Each session involves eight classes. This club offers two levels: beginner and advanced. For our beginning (aka entry-level) classes, we welcome all students, and no prerequisite amount of experience is necessary. Focused on fostering an interest in public speaking, older debaters will teach students how to run a debate and the skills required to participate in one. For more experienced debaters, the advanced class helps students gain experience and develop their skills by doing drills and engaging in debate rounds.
Debate Skill Seminars
These seminars, hosted once a semester, are centered around a particular debate skill. Topics can range from collecting evidence to running a debate club at your school. Speakers are experienced debaters eager to share tips and advice!
GYP Mock Debates/Public Speech Events
GYP Debate organizes mock debates where students can practice their debate skills in an actual round! Student members can use their leadership and teamwork skills while meeting new people.
The First Mock Debate of the GYP Debate Club on the evening of October 29, 2022 (EST)
GYP Debate Skills class-Level 1 started in the middle of January 2023
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2023-24 GYP Boston Debate Club Co-President: Caroline Song
Caroline Song is an 11th grader at Boston Latin School. Aside from studying, she enjoys writing stories and (really bad) poems in her spare time, as well as doing origami and reading books. Some of her interests include astrophysics, Greek mythology, and martial arts. She also plays the clarinet and the piano and likes to go biking through the woods. At school, she is a content editor for the school’s science magazine, Catapult, and an active member of the Speech and Debate Team, the Science Team, and Mock Trial. She always tries her best to get engaged in her community and connect with others and is driven by her curiosity and passion for learning. Caroline hopes that with a lot of hard work and determination, she can make the world a better place and maybe have some fun along the way.
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2023-24 GYP Boston Debate Club Co-President: Ben Han
Ben: a 10th grader in the Bay Area, USA. I have a lot of debate experience and experience in teaching debate; I volunteered to teach debate in another debate club. My biggest accomplishment in the debate is nationals LD (a type of debate), third place winner as a novice, where my record in qualifiers was four wins to 0 losses; I also won the first speaker award in a state tournament last year.
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2023-24 GYP Boston Debate Club Student Leader: Emily Yu
Hello! My name is Emily Yu, and I am currently a junior at Boston Latin School. My experiences with debate go back to my freshman year when I joined BLS’s Speech & Debate team as a novice. In my sophomore year, I debated both Junior Varsity and Varsity in the same season, with my biggest accomplishment being a Quarterfinalist with my Public Forum partner at the 2023 NCFL Grand Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky! I have then transitioned to speech, placing in the top three in Informative Speaking in nearly every local tournament I have been to around the Massachusetts area. Outside of arguing with people for trophies, I enjoy swimming competitively, playing piano for hours on end, and reading Supreme Court briefs for funny quotes. I am super excited to hear your voices to grow and learn together!!
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The following Students, who were in our club leader positions, serve as our club honorable advisor roles this school year:
Tiffany Li, Webber Academy in Calgary, Canada
David Qiao from Christ The King in Alberta, Canada
Theresa Fu from Lake Forest Academy, Chicago,
Molin Wang Rancho, Etiwanda Intermediate School, California US
Emily Yicheng Li -at UWC CSC, Shanghai, China