Stamford's AITE To Host Debate Exhibition

Information via Stamford Public Schools

STAMFORD, CT — Stamford Public Schools and the Academy of Information Technoligy and Engineering will host an inspiring and spirited debate exhibition, featuring some of the best collegiate female debaters in the world, on Jan. 22 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The event will take place at the Rippowam Middle School auditorium, 381 High Ridge Road, and it's free to attend.

The exhibition will feature female members of the Yale University Parliamentary Debate Team. Following the debate, Zoe Chance, Yale professor and best-selling author of "Influence is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts," "Sparking Change," and "Making Good Things Happen" will share her perspectives on persuasion, public speaking, and empowerment.

Mayor Caroline Simmons will also attend and will speak to the value of participating in engaging after-school activities, like debate.

Debate is a popular extra-curricular activity at all three of SPS high schools, training students in public speaking, grace under pressure, and critical thinking.

Stamford consistently qualifies some of the highest numbers of students for the Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) State Finals. In the first three tournaments of the school year, 16 SPS high school debaters finished in the top five of team or individual speaker awards, each earning a position at the 2025 Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) State Finals.

This past September, AITE hosted the start-of-year scrimmage for novice debaters in the Connecticut Debate Association.

Students and staff from AITE also support the Stamford Public Schools Middle School Debate program. The Middle School Debate Team is open to all SPS students in grades 6 through 8, hosting weekly practices at AITE.

In December over 300 middle school students, including teams from SPS, participated in the December 2024 Connecticut Middle School Debate League tournament. The SPS team of Hillary Ho from Dolan Middle School and Isha Jaishiva from Scofield Middle School won the tournament that featured the motion, "This House believes that schools should ban smartphones & watches only during instructional time instead of from bell-to-bell."

The event on Jan. 22 is being held to promote girls’ participation in high school debate activities and competitions. According to a recent study published on SSRN, female high school students are 30.34 percent more likely to quit competitive debate than their male counterparts. Last year the AITE Debate Team sponsored a movie screening about girls in debate called Girl Talk.

The Yale Debate Association (YDA) is Yale University’s only competitive intercollegiate debate team. The YDA is North America’s most successful intercollegiate debating society and is currently ranked third globally.