Gender in Debate Conference
Purpose
The Gender in Debate Conference (GIDC) aims at promoting inclusion in debate activities. Through fostering conversations and panels about gender in high school debate activities, we hope to raise awareness about people of all genders' experiences in these activities while creating a space to discuss solutions. This will be the second year of the GIDC and given the virtual format of this year’s conference we hope to include more students from various speech/debate activities across the nation.
SCHEDULE
10:00
Introduction
10:05
Panel Q & A Session
11:00
Mixed Breakout Room Discussion of Various Schools and Activities
11:30
Large Group Activities
11:45
Individual School & Activity Breakout Room Discussion of Solutions
12:15
Closing Remarks
Conference Ends
12:30
Panelists
Sara Catherine Cook
Sara Catherine competed in Public Forum Debate at The Altamont School in Birmingham, AL. During her time, she reached late outrounds at tournaments like Yale and Bronx, won a state championship, and founded Beyond Resolved. Sara Catherine and her debate partner created initiatives like the blog, online workshop, and mentor program. She now writes Topic Analyses for Champions Briefs, works at The Institute for Speech and Debate and coaches students from around the world. She currently attends Dartmouth College, competes with their Parliamentary Debate Team, and plans to study Math.
Jenna Freidus
Jenna is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in English with a secondary in History. Outside of class, she is on the Secretariat of HMUN, Harvard’s high school model UN conference, and is a peer advising fellow for freshmen. Jenna graduated Horace Mann in 2018 where she served as Secretary General of the Model UN team. In her spare time, she enjoys running, reading, and watching reality TV shows.
Amala Karri
Amala competed in Public Forum debate at Hunter College High School, amassing ten bids and several speaker awards. She coached at debate camps in the summer of 2019 and helped run the National Symposium for Debate’s PF camp in 2020. She currently attends the University of Chicago and coaches the Horace Mann debate team.
Anjali Ramanathan
Anjali is a first-year studying law at the University of Oxford. She competed in Public Forum for Nueva, receiving several speaker awards and debating elimination rounds at 16 national circuit tournaments with her partner, Irene. Anjali coached at NDF in the summer of 2020, and currently works with debaters individually.
Rabhya Mehrotra
Rabhya Mehrotra is a rising junior at Yale College, returning from a gap semester. She competed for Walt Whitman High School for four years in Public Forum debate. Rabhya and her partner Elisa competed together in every tournament. They qualified for the TOC for three years, won Blake, and reached finals at the TOC. Rabhya received first speaker at Harvard, second at Columbia, and third at Yale and TOC. At Yale, she is the Opinion co-editor of the Yale Daily News and co-director of the Yale Politics Initiative.
Inbar Pe'er
Inbar Pe’er is a junior at Columbia University studying Political Science focusing on International Politics. She debated for four years for Stuyvesant High school in Manhattan, New York. As a Junior she reached Finals at Glenbrooks, Quarter-Finals at Princeton and Blake and received six bids to the Tournament of Champions. As a Senior, she reached Semi Finals at Emory and received two bids to the Tournament of Champions. She also served as the first sole female president of the Stuyvesant Speech and Debate team in her Senior year. In her freshman year of college she coached the Trinity debate team.