Fremont Debate Academy x Durham Debate

Register for FDA Durham’s 2nd annual program for 4th & 5th grades here by March 12th!

We’re excited to start FDA Durham Elementary’s second annual debate program this year! 

DISCLAIMER: Because of limited bandwidth, we will be capping this year’s program at ~24-30 4th-5th grade students. Students will be admitted on a first come, first serve basis. The rest of the students will be put on a waitlist. This program is running as part of an official partnership with Fremont Unified School District.

Over the past 10 years, Fremont Debate Academy has impacted over 5000 elementary and middle school students in 19 states & 8 countries, including thousands in FUSD through operations in 25 FUSD schools. Under our instruction, students and alumni internationally over the past few years have qualified to elimination rounds or won tournaments in prestigious tournaments over 400 times! 

This year, we’re running an 8 week long competitive debate program focusing on the Middle School Public Debate Format at Durham Elementary School. Students will learn various structured forms of argumentation, and research techniques. Through practice sessions, drills, and mini-competitions, students’ public speaking skills will be vastly improved. At the end of the school year, there will be a FDA international tournament!

FDA Durham sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 3:10pm to 4:40pm in Room 30. There will be 8 classes for this program. The start date for the sessions will be March 18th, which will be the only online session (the rest will be in-person). The last session will be held on May 20th. Please note that 3/25 and Spring Break will be skipped. Note: Parents are responsible for picking their children up promptly at 4:40 pm right after the session.  

The final list of session dates are: 3/18 (online session), 4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20. 

Fremont Debate Academy’s studies about its programs exhibit strong results regarding student growth: Students participating in FDA’s debate & civics programs saw a 39.1% improvement in their self-confidence & public speaking skills, 45.9% improvement in their knowledge about the world & research skills, and 90% said that participating in FDA’s debate & civics programs has had a positive impact on their academic performance.

Feel free to direct any questions to our three FDA Durham Elementary Instructors:

Samanvitha Yakkala (HS Lead) - samanvitha@fremontdebateacademy.org

Anvita Saboo (HS Lead)  - anvita@fremontdebateacademy.org

Ms. Esther Fowlks (Teacher)  - efowlks@fusdk12.net