At the start of his 9th-grade year at West Haven High School in 2021, Bedirhan Ozmen joined a club he thought might help him with his public speaking skills: the New Haven Urban Debate League (UDL). An all-volunteer, student-run organization based at Yale, the league sent Yale undergrads to the school every week to coach students in competitive debating.
Ozmen began regularly attending UDL's after-school practices. As his debating skills steadily improved, he noticed the club had other, positive effects on his self-image.
"I had always had an issue with speaking clearly and loudly and being confident about what I'm saying, but UDL helped me think of myself in a different way," he said. "Throughout the years, seeing myself improve was very, very rewarding. I feel like UDL broke that shell I had in high school."
Now a first-year student at Yale, Ozmen is showing his appreciation by volunteering for UDL himself. Last semester, he served as a debate coach at his former high school; this semester, he is helping to coordinate the league's frequent travel tournaments.
"It kind of felt like an internal obligation - they helped me so much, so why not do the same for other students?" he said. "When I see students that are like I was, I encourage them to speak up and say their mind."
A non-profit organization that relies wholly on support from donors, the UDL has offered free debate coaching to about 150 students in 15 New Haven-area middle and high schools since 2004. The students compete at Yale in debate tournaments about three times a semester; with financial help from the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the New York Parliamentary Debate League, they travel to out-of-state tournaments several times a year, which low-income students attend at no or reduced cost.
Vy Nguyen, a Yale junior and UDL board member who served as co-president last year, said her decision to coach debate arose from her own experience participating in a mock trial club as a high school student in Fairfax County, Virginia. The public school she attended had minimal resources to support the program, and Nguyen and her team members found it difficult to compete with private school students who had received more training.
"It was really frustrating because my peers and I had a lot of great ideas, but we didn't know how to structure them or present them formally," she said.
UDL trains New Haven-area students in the rules and strategies of debate, including how to navigate disagreement with civility and think quickly on their feet - especially when they are assigned to defend a stance they don't personally support, said Ozmen.
"That's a skill you can use anywhere," he said. "Having thoughtful discussions in areas that you're not comfortable with can be very rewarding whether you're in the classroom, with friends, or networking."
Likewise, said Nguyen, "debate gives students the opportunity to engage with their peers in a way that is calm, that is controlled under pressure. Students learn how to disagree with poise."
Reasoning and confidence
At a recent debate practice at West Haven High, Yale junior Henry Levinson opened the session with a warm-up drill. The roughly two dozen students gathered in the classroom were to imagine they were caught in a zombie apocalypse and could choose only one item to help them survive; they would defend their selection in a brief speech.
After a few minutes of laughter and discussion, Levinson selected three students to present their ideas. Ninth-grader Joy Van Oslen said she would bring a knife - she could use it to stab zombies, kill animals for food, or pick the locks of supermarket doors.
Bryan Arriaga, a 10th grader, was next. He offered reasons why a knife was not such a good idea: it wouldn't fend off zombies if it was small and would dull quickly. A fishing rod would be better, he argued, because it could be used to catch food. If necessary, he said, it could be snapped in half to create a sharp weapon, and the fishing line could be used to set snares.
Next, Delsin Rodriguez, also in 10th grade, presented his argument against the fishing rod: it would be too flimsy to defend against zombies. He made a case for bringing matches instead; building a fire could provide warmth, light, and protection.
Nguyen, also in attendance that day, led the team in weighing the arguments for and against each item. Then they took a vote on the best line of reasoning - the fishing rod won out. The students then proceeded to practice debating a more serious subject: whether the death penalty should be abolished.
Sofia Bongiorni-Nucci, a senior at West Haven High, has been attending UDL's weekly coaching sessions for three years. She feels a connection with the Yale student coaches, she said, because "they talk to us on a personal level." Rather than strictly focusing on debate format, the coaches teach students "how to express our viewpoints clearly so we can fully convey our thoughts and ideas."
Bongiorni-Nucci joined UDL as a way to make friends after transferring to West Haven High from another school her sophomore year. But the practices have also bolstered her confidence by improving her conversational skills, something she knows will be of value as she looks ahead to college.
"The skill of being able to put down your ideas and have reasoning to back it up and to be confident in what you say is extremely important in all scenarios," she said. "Joining debate was one of the best decisions I've made in my high school career."
