Science Park

Program Established: 1979

Offers: Policy, LD & Public Forum

LD/Public Forum Coach: Jonathan Alston

Policy Coach: Randy Mitchell

Program Story: The Science High School Debate Teams was established in 1979 by Brent Farrand and quickly became the model for urban debate programs nationally. By the early eighties, the Science HS Debate programs had nationally competitive teams. By the mid-eighties, the Science HS program boasted nationally ranked teams. The main difference between the Newark Science HS debate program and other nationally competitive programs was the make-up of the debate team. This was a teams of students from all walks of life, economic backgrounds and ethnicity. The Newark Science HS Debate program seeded the idea that debate teams from the inner city cannot only participate in debate, but they could dominate.