Middletown High Debate Society Revives 123-Year-Old Tradition

Daniel Lowry, social studies teacher at Middletown High School, had an idea to start a debate club. He had an idea that it would begin small and grow over the next few years, but the very first meeting saw 40 students eager to participate.  

The new club, Middletown High School Debate Society, took its name from the first MHS club founded in 1890, a historical detail uncovered by MHS art teacher Patrick Shugrue.   

The original 1890 society consisted of two teams, one for the female students and one for the males and ran for many years. The 2012-2013 society has nearly ten teams and have been competing among themselves as they work toward competing in the competitive Connecticut circuit.
 
The society, which remained active throughout the entire school year, took part in Russell Library's Emancipation Proclamation Debate in January. 

This event included performances by the Middletown High School Chamber Choir Singers, Oddfellows Playhouse, and The Shiloh Baptist Missionary Church Male Chorus. Writer and educator Kate Rushin discussed Watch Night.

Patricia Charles, Superintendent of Schools, and Mayor Dan Drew judged a debate about the Emancipation Proclamation.

Olin Library at Wesleyan University and the Middlesex County Historical Society featured exhibits on slavery, the Abolitionist Movement, the Underground Railroad in Middletown and colonization.