Speaking Up

Suffolk—Boston Debate League course helps high school students amplify their voices

As Joselyn Carvalho and Rebecca Francois move to the front of a Suffolk University classroom and open up their final presentation they look out on the lights of Boston Common and the encouraging faces of their peers. 

The pair—seasoned debaters who’ve mastered their complex case on domestic violence survivors seeking asylum in the United States—are comfortable, poised, and ready to reflect on the hard work they’ve done this semester. They’re also high school seniors doing college work and earning college credit before they’ve even finished their applications for higher ed admission.

Carvalho and Francois are among a small group of Boston Public School students selected to participate in a unique pilot course taught by a Suffolk University professor and a coach from the Boston Debate League. The course gives the already-skilled varsity debaters additional details on the history and mechanics of debating and how to craft, and counter, a persuasive argument. It’s also an opportunity to try college-level coursework in a university setting. 

“When you're inside this building, it's a whole different atmosphere,” says Francois. “You walk around and everybody is just so focused, and it's contagious. It makes you want to do more, it makes you want to be proactive, go out of your way and learn from people.”

Students present at Suffolk University

Transcript 00:00
[Music]
00:02
my name is Rebecca Francois I go to the
00:05
Henderson Inclusion school and I am a
00:07
senior this year I grew up in between
00:09
Dorchester and Haiti
00:11
I came to Boston permanently when I was
00:13
8 years old it was after the 2010
00:15
earthquake I love with my mother and my
00:18
grandmother my mother always saw America
00:22
as being Elaine where I'd be able to
00:24
have a lot of opportunities my name is
00:26
Jocelyn Carvalho I am born and raised in
00:29
Boston I want to be an expressive arts
00:33
therapist and maybe be a doctor in
00:36
psychology I realize I have to work
00:39
twice as hard for some opportunities my
00:43
voice is gonna have to be louder than
00:45
the next guy in the room I help out
00:48
whenever I can but I'm never always make
00:50
sure that I understand that my first
00:52
role is not education
00:54
Boston debate league I've definitely
00:55
learned more about connecting with other
00:59
individuals and not just keeping the
01:01
ideas that I have to myself my first
01:04
year in the bay I was JV city champ and
01:06
that was just a big accomplishment for
01:09
me I've been able to realize okay my
01:11
opinion is very important but I do have
01:14
to back it up with critical evidence all
01:16
right
01:16
I've always been an outspoken person and
01:20
I think that's what my coach saw in me
01:22
she saw something in me that I had not
01:25
received myself and it's the ability to
01:28
create change once that first debate
01:32
starts everything else is a blur debate
01:35
gives you an adrenaline rush your brain
01:39
is working so hard to focus and try to
01:42
prove your own point and all this
01:44
evidence behind it and if you do lose
01:46
that debate and it just gives you more
01:48
motivation to win the next one
01:50
in our case we make the argument that
01:52
when a woman is filing for asylum that
01:56
she should be able to say that domestic
01:58
violence doesn't get enough cause if a
02:00
woman is strong enough to walk away from
02:04
the situation then we should have a
02:06
legislative system that is willing to
02:07
fight just as hard these aren't just
02:09
numbers on a spreadsheet
02:10
just random people were actually trying
02:12
to help people who are coming to America
02:14
it starts off with a spoken word all
02:17
that is left of us are whispers of blood
02:20
of cries and mercy of threats in the
02:23
view now as women you deserve a voice
02:26
everyone's shooting deserves to be heard
02:28
and recognized debate has taught me that
02:29
advocacy is not only my role in society
02:32
it's something that everybody has a role
02:33
in we were given the opportunity to have
02:36
a class here at Suffolk when you're
02:38
inside this building it's a whole
02:40
different atmosphere you walk around and
02:43
everybody is just so focused and it's
02:45
contagious I'm a bookworm in Suffolk's
02:48
libraries gorgeous it definitely shows
02:51
me that there's like beyond high school
02:53
the course is called introduction to
02:57
debates it's a great environment even
03:00
though we're on separate teams we work
03:02
together as if we were one Suffolk has
03:05
definitely given me an opportunity to
03:06
learn as a person and learn how to adapt
03:10
I do get college credit so that actually
03:14
saves me a lot of time and money
03:16
Suffolk's definitely gave me the
03:17
opportunity to like know that okay this
03:19
is possible for me the fact that I was
03:22
able to get into a program at Suffolk
03:25
that feels it makes me so good it tells
03:28
me that I can do a lot more than I think
03:32
I can and I should put myself out there
03:34
and just apply at the beginning of the
03:38
day I was a shy didn't know what to do
03:41
frazzled and now I just feel more
03:44
confident I am projected valedictorian
03:48
which in
03:49
amazing and it's just spent a lot of
03:52
hard work this college career I'm all
03:56
ready for it I'm gonna make it in
03:58
whatever I do you can always create
04:00
change that you're never too small
04:02
debate has definitely taught me that my
04:05
grandmother who you didn't have a chance
04:07
to go to college is gonna see me pack up
04:10
and go to college next year
04:13
it means the world absolutely needs the
04:15
world that means that all of them have
04:17
this hard work and all of my car with
04:18
their sacrifices aren't going to waste
04:21
my mother and my grandmother are
04:23
definitely gonna be really proud when I
04:25
walk across that stage and I get my
04:27
diploma
04:28
[Music]

The program builds on a strong partnership between Suffolk and Boston Debate League that brings hundreds of Boston Public School students to the University’s campus every year for debate tournaments. The University also hosts the Boston Debate League’s summer teacher training sessions which help Boston educators become debate coaches, and also bring essential elements of the program—such as student leadership development, student collaboration, and a focus on evidence and reasoning—into their classrooms.

“The Boston Debate League is making a real difference in the lives of students in the Boston Public Schools through the power of debate and the critical thinking skills that go along with it,” says Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly. “Suffolk is proud to partner with the Boston Debate League to expand our mentoring abilities through this new program.” 

"Through our debate programs, students are using their powerful voices to lead informed and engaging conversations about real-world issues,” says Boston Debate League Executive Director Mike Wasserman. “Our partnership with Suffolk University has been an incredible opportunity to not just prepare students for college, but provide them an opportunity to actually begin their college journey before they even graduate from high school."

This week Carvalho and Francois will graduate as valedictorian and salutatorian of their class at the Henderson Inclusion School in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. They will head off to college in the fall with credits from their course and the confidence they gained in the process.

“Over the two years that I've been in debate I've grown so much as a person. And through this program I've definitely learned that anything is possible. This college career: I'm all ready for it,” says Carvalho.

 

Contact

Greg Gatlin
Office of Public Affairs
617-573-8428

Andrea Grant
Office of Public Affairs
617-573-8410