FDA x Niles

Register for FDA Niles’s 2nd annual free debate program here (in partnership with the PTA)! Register by March 14th! The program will be run at the Niles Library.

We’re excited to start FDA Niles 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.

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 Niles 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 Niles Elementary Debate sessions will be held on Fridays from 4:00pm to 5:30pm. There will be 8 classes for this program. The start date for the sessions will be from March 21, 2025 in the Library. Our last session will be on May 23rd, 2025. Note: Parents are responsible for picking their children up promptly at 5:30 PM right after the session.

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 two FDA Niles Elementary Instructors:

Aanya Gautam - aanyag@fremontdebateacademy.org

Sayana Settipalli- sayana@fremontdebateacademy.org