Get Involved

Volunteer Opportunities

We rely on volunteers to help facilitate positive educational experiences for our students. This also saves the league hundreds of dollars which allows for more students to participate. There are many ways to volunteers at our tournaments, with opportunities from September to April of the school year.

Volunteers must be able to successfully pass a background check prior to their start date.

If you would prefer to make a monetary donation, please visit the donation page.

 

Volunteer Coach

We are looking for mentors and coaches to inspire and guide the urban debaters of our community. This is a chance to nurture young minds and help them build the confidence they need to succeed in debate tournaments and their academic lives. The students we serve need role models they can look to for guidance, support, and encouragement to step outside of their comfort zones and grow.

Time commitment and responsibilities can vary depending on school need. At a minimum, we ask for a monthly commitment of 1-3 hours at the school and at least 1 hour of lesson prep.

Right now, our main need is someone to coach at Centennial HS on Wednesday mornings from 7:30am-9:00am. See below for additional responsibilities.

Typical responsibilities include

  • Consistent presence at weekly debate practices

  • Coordination of lesson ideas and goals with other coaches or PUDL staff/board

  • Attend a training prior to beginning the program and be available by email or phone periodically to discuss progress at your school

  • Attend tournaments to support your debaters

  • Arrange transportation for your students through the school

  • Work with our executive director to continue the BottleDrop fundraiser

  • Appropriately use and report the use of funds in the debate account

  • Be a positive and affirming role model who promotes the values and mission of the league

 

Tournament Judge

As a tournament judge you can directly facilitate the tournament experience for new debaters, whether or not you have prior debate or judging experience. If you can bring professionalism, positivity, and respect then you can be a great judge. Every volunteer judge allows for 4 more students to participate.

Judges watch the debate round, evaluate teams on logic, effective argumentation, and speaking skills. They pick a winner and assign speaking points to individual students and provide written and oral feedback on their decision. At a debate tournament, each debate round is approximately 1.5 hours with approximately 10 minutes between rounds. Each tournament will host a minimum of 3 rounds, but may expand to accommodate student entry.

The time commitment varies. We will work with you to be flexible with your schedule, as you are doing a great service for the students in our program. Each new judge volunteer will be trained (approximately two hours) in advance of a tournament. You will learn about the norms of high school debate, including debate evaluation, the style of the activity, and how to make effective and informed decisions.