Jul 25, 2023 At 11:12 AM EDT
Over the summer, the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) is helping its debate alumni bridge the gap between early years in college and their first careers—via a paid job opportunity that combines hands-on work experience and professional mentorship.
The program was founded with the intention of "extending the life of the debater relationship" with NAUDL, the organization's director of development, Madalyn Messer-Brooks, told Newsweek.
So often, former debaters lose contact with their leagues after they graduate from high school. NAUDL wanted a way to keep in touch with alumni to build their network and continue helping students.
Starting in 2020, NAUDL opened 10 paid internship opportunities to help recent alumni work on projects in Urban Debate leagues that would build leadership capacity and professional development while learning about different types of jobs they can pursue, NAUDL Communications Director Sara Sanchez said.
The fellowship not only provides practical work experience and career advice, but it also maintains NAUDL's vast network of alumni by keeping them engaged in the debate space to build programming and connections for the next generation of debaters.
White & Case, a global law firm, sponsors the program and has been a long-time collaborator with NAUDL. The firm has been involved in different NAUDL leagues in different cities and wanted to have a more national presence for mentorship opportunities, Messer-Brooks said.
NAUDL Executive Director Rhonda Haynes said in a statement that having White & Case as a sponsor provides "financial stability and sustainability" for the program as well as access for fellows to a diverse set of lawyers and associates.
Angel Harris, a 21-year-old neuroscience major at Georgia State University, was surprised when she saw an email from NAUDL asking her, as an alumna, to apply for the White & Case NAUDL Fellows Program.
Debate had not been on Harris' mind for a while. But the former Atlanta Urban Debate League debater has experience interning at a law firm and thought she should apply for this fellowship.
But deep down, she said she really took the job because she "just wanted to experience debate again."
"I was kind of giddy because I haven't done [debate] in years," she said.
Over the summer, Harris is working with the alumni engagement team at NAUDL to "create connections" between high school seniors, college students and those in the workforce to help former debaters find jobs.
Fellows work with Urban Debate leagues across the country, including the NAUDL main office, either in-person or remotely, on various projects to support debaters.
The fellows complete an application process to be selected and must be in an undergraduate program, usually in their sophomore year or later. After an interview process, the fellows are matched with projects in leagues that align with their skills, experience and career aspirations. They work on projects ranging from data science and grant writing to curriculum building, human resources and graphic design.
Using experience acquired from their work in college, as well as the fundamental research, writing and communication skills they developed from high school debate, the fellows gain work experience at NAUDL and will have an impact on next year's debate instruction.
Favour Adakosa, who was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when she was a young child, only debated for one year in the Atlanta Urban Debate League. In that short time, she learned how to collaborate and speak with confidence and how to structure arguments to convey her ideas—all skills she still uses today.
"I feel like that's a superpower that I learned from debate," she said. "I've been using it throughout all my internships and all my jobs when I need to talk to executives. It's really helped."
Adakosa just transferred from Georgia State University to Kennesaw State to study UX (user experience) design—a design process focused on creating products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users.
She is using her passion and experience to help NAUDL with logo and design rebranding and to create resource packets for novice debaters. Drawing on her own knowledge on how to create the best user experience, Adakosa included a glossary and links to TikToks and YouTube videos as additional resources when researching the topics in the packets.
"I made sure to approach it in a design way, making sure that it was very easy to read," she said. "I was like, 'OK, as a novice debater who has never read this and who doesn't know anything, what would I want?'"
An essential aspect of this fellowship program is the invaluable professional development advice fellows receive through weekly roundtable chats with attorneys and associates from White & Case.
In those virtual meetings, the White & Case employees share professional advice with the fellows about how to communicate and manage responsibilities in a workplace setting.
Messer-Brooks said that NAUDL has been intentional about having volunteers in these talks who represent the same age range, race and background as the fellows.
"When you see a young, Black third-year associate that went to an HBCU share their track of getting there and tangible advice and insights...it's very easy for the students to absorb and apply in their own minds," she added.
Kamille Padgitt, a sophomore at Howard University studying psychology and philosophy, said this fellowship has been a "perfect" first internship. She is working with NAUDL Executive Director Rhonda Haynes on different human resources projects this summer and has an interest in civil rights law and policymaking. Padgitt said the weekly chats with White & Case have made the experience "nothing but positive."
"They're educating us on how we can be better professionals once we graduate from college" and "how to be a better communicator in the professional world," Padgitt said.
Even fellows with interests outside law are gaining critical experience.
Adakosa said her role during this fellowship has evolved into somewhat of a project manager, sending emails and Slack messages to ensure other fellows turn in their assignments on time.
The fellowship exposed her to a new role and responsibilities, and forced her to push past her doubt and set a new career goal.
"I've always wanted to work in managerial, but I was always afraid," she said. "And the experience I'm gaining through managing different people from different backgrounds, different ages and different skill sets really makes me feel like, 'OK, I can really become a senior interactive designer one day,' like, that's what I really want to do."
Another essential part of this fellowship is that it is a paid work opportunity for these college students—something that is, unfortunately, not a common experience.
"There's a lot of college students that are struggling, having two or three jobs," said Harris, who said she had to work several jobs in college to afford tuition, books and food. "It gets overwhelming."
This year, nearly every fellow needed substantial flexibility to work another job, Haynes told Newsweek in an email. She said that made her realize that NAUDL has not adjusted its pay rate since the program began three years ago.
"We quickly adjusted so that the pay we were offering was competitive and certainly higher than minimum wage in most areas," Haynes said. "The NAUDL Fellows program aims to offer competitive compensation. The students we serve often work during the school year to help offset the financial burden [of] attending university. I recall those pressures and can personally attest to how important it was to have summer employment that helped advance my career goals while providing substantial income."
Harris, who is a first-generation college student, said this fellowship has been her highest-paid internship. She gushed over how she feels NAUDL truly cares about her and the other fellows, and how it is "refreshing" to be paid and appreciated for the work she is doing.
NAUDL also provided computers and headsets for fellows working remotely—something that Harris said is "an absolute game-changer."
This support has created a welcoming environment for the fellows as they are reminded of what it's like to be part of the Urban Debate community.
Creating a cohort among the fellows is a key goal of NAUDL's fellowship. Messer-Brooks said that having a network of peers to share advice and job opportunities with is invaluable for working through problems and achieving career and personal goals.
While the NAUDL staff and fellows all come from different backgrounds and leagues, they share a common interest in the very specific hobby of debate, as well as a passion to uplift each other and their communities.
Harris said she's learned a lot from her peers, as they've exchanged stories, skills and experiences over the past few weeks that have shaped what they aspire to do after the fellowship. She added that she feels "giddy" surrounded by a familiar group of people who allow themselves to be "unapologetically nerdy without having to apologize or dumb yourself down."
Angel said it's been "refreshing" to be around debaters, as she has been able to reconnect with a part of herself that she lost over the years.
"When you start to grow up, you kind of lose pieces of yourself over the years and you forget to pick them up as you're losing them," she said. "And so just to have a piece of myself that was fun [and] social again is definitely a breath of fresh air because during this time I know that a lot of us college students are stressed out, losing sleep, just trying to get by and graduate."
The fellowship runs until August 9. After three years of successful programs on both the NAUDL and student sides, Messer-Brooks said NAUDL is looking forward to engaging with alumni to provide more mutually beneficial opportunities.
