Being a student of the Rikers Debate Project- some brief reflections

The note below is written by one of our former students, Camilla Broderick, who was one of our regular debate students at the Rose M Singer Center before being released in May 2017. She will be featured on Samantha Bee’s June 7th show debating President Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration.

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The Rikers debate team was an integral part of my stay on Rikers Island. I was honored to be picked for the public debate on the Samantha Bee show. Not only did it help me work on my public speaking skills, it opened up new opportunities for me upon my release. The members of the debate team care about us and are willing to go above and beyond to help us out, even once released. The debate team was a bright spot in a dark and monotonous place. I know that they have written several letters on our behalf to judges and lawyers, and a recommendation letter for me to attend a competitive course at Columbia. Preparing for the public debate was a tiresome process, often reading and rereading my speech in order to make alterations. Having to write the speeches without access to computers was also difficult. But it paid off when my team won. In a place plagued with degradation and violence, the debate team allowed us to escape and to work on ourselves.