The Bard Debate Union, together with the Center for Civic Engagement and the Red Hook Education Foundation, hosted the First Annual Middle and High School Debate Tournament at Bard College on Friday, March 9th. With nearly 50 students in attendance from 7 different schools (BHSEC Manhattan, BHSEC Queens, BHSEC Newark, Rhinebeck High School, Red Hook High School, and Red Hook Middle School), we can happily announce that the tournament was a major success! We offered two full rounds of debate on the following topics: 1. This house would lower the voting age in the U.S. and 2. This house believes that Facebook does more harm than good. The students had over a month to research and prepare which produced many exceptionally good debates. After the two debates were over, we offered a pizza lunch to all participants and gave out awards to the top placing teams and speakers! Fun was had by all and we very much look forward to hosting this event again next year!
