Duquesne Debating Society is a recognized program at Duquesne University focused on professional development. The society has over 20 members and they frequently compete in various NEDA (National Educational Debate Association) competitions around the United States. This semester they plan to compete in several NEDA competitions in Indiana, Ohio, Missouri. They also hope to compete in the national competition in Fullerton, California in March. However, this competition will cost about $2,000 for one team (two people) to compete! Due to this cost, Duquesne Debating Society is trying to raise money in order to be present on the national stage. They have created a crowd-funding website as well as a video to rally support. Please read on and find out why this is a worthy cause!

1. The Organization has a long standing history of over 70 years.

DDS has been around for forever! Our coaches are currently working on a debate team archive that covers the society's extensive history!

2. Public speaking is good for self-confidence, interviewing skills and general life skills.

3. Some of our members, like Janae Stacier, are seniors and would like one final chance to compete!

Janae is an incredible public speaker and she has devoted most of her time to debate as the society's president. She has been on Duquesne's Debate Society all of her semesters and she has really developed strong debating skills that deserve to be represented on the national stage.

4. Duquesne’s Debate team is REALLY good. We want the chance to show everyone how great we are again in California.

We don't take competition lightly! Many of us are extremely competitive and while we strive to have fun at tournaments, we are there mostly to bring home the first place award for Duquesne.

5. We’re versatile and we strive to learn more about debate.

We are extremely committed to debate! Just last semester we participated in a debate event entitled iDebate Rwanda. We had debaters from Rwanda come to Duquesne and participate in a public debate.

6. Society members are committed. We have practice for one hour every week and spend an average of three hours a week researching our topics.

7. We love what we do. A considerable amount of people in DDS want to become lawyers, so they want to debate for a living. Others just love arguing. Regardless, we’re really passionate about our arguments.

Our debaters study many different subjects at Duquesne. Some of our majors include international relations, journalism, political science, communications, business and music!

8. For many of us this will be the last competition we will compete in at Duquesne. It’s Janae Stacier’s last competition and we want her to bring home the gold for Duquesne.

Janae is an incredible public speaker and she would really appreciate the opportunity to represent Duquesne again on the national stage!

9. We are important to Duquesne’s School of Liberal Arts. Not only are we focused on English and Grammar when writing, but we also take into account rhetorical skills. We combine so many different elements of subjects to craft our winning arguments.

We write a lot and we love it. We are passionate about crafting arguments, critical thinking and winning arguments!

10. DDS debates a lot.

We are constantly learning and all of us have improved significantly since our first debate! We are excited to learn so much more and hopefully compete on the national stage!

11. We really want the chance to compete and represent Duquesne on the national stage!

Thank you in advance for considering our cause! Anything you can contribute can help us being closer to our goal of $2,000!

Please check out our crowd funding website and video:

https://www.spirit.duq.edu/project/1636