Testimonial
Great to see Black American Students Debate, Great Job Rodney Mays.
July 29, 2008 3:24 PM Anonymous said...
When I first started to debate I was so scared and my confidence built over the years but this camp took it to another level. We had to over come lots of obstacles but we made, we made it through it feels good to be a role model at such a young age my own mother even looks up to me! Thank you Rodney for everything you did and sacrificed for us! Much love!
August 1, 2008 7:31 PM Anonymous said...
I am pretty sure I can say "we made it a long way" for learning so much in a week, from building confidence, to learning to organize a debate! I never had been around so many talented people in my life.
We left our family, went to camp && made a new one, this experience has open my eyes to a whole new light.
I thank Mr. Mayes for having the camp and having faith in us
Remy Thomas, member of the Urban Debate Camp/Team 08
August 2, 2008 4:30 AM Anonymous said...
I can't keep my teenager attention for 1 hour. But, you kept their attention all day. I must give it to you.
Tyler wrote:
First of all, I would like to address that This Urban Debate Camp was the first in the U.S. that was Black American. It was so great to be apart of a family who helps you learn and grow as a person. A family other than your own that you can call a family. I have learned so much about debate and public speaking. This camp has opened so many doors to my future. I am truly grateful to Mr. Mays for organizing a camp as special. I hope to return next year as learn as much as I did this year. I am so proud to have participated in this organization. This camp has opened an outlet to many youth's in the Urban Black Community. This camp has taught me a number of things, amongst those to be confident in everything I do. I hope that we, as, a camp, as a family, can grow and learn from this experience to be the wonderful black people we all are, and learn to take pride in our heritage and our culture. We ARE Great Debaters!-Tyler Thompson-Student of the Urban Debate Camp 2008
September 21, 2008 3:30 PM Anonymous said...
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bwalker2582 wrote:
I am so proud to say that I am a part of the Urban Debate Team. I originally wanted to go to the urban debate camp to improve in debate. I figured if I was on the debate team already, now going on 3 year's, I could at least try to debate my senior year. So……. I signed up for the debate camp that would help me pursue that goal. And I got exactly what I wanted and more. I learned how to debate! I found out it wasn't as boring as I thought it was. It wasn’t just two people flapping there mouths about some boring topic. It was more then that. It was Life vs. Death. It was about, should you execute someone who may have killed one of your family member’s, or should you just let them rout in jail. It was real life situations. And that intrigue me to fight for justice!
Learning how to debate wasn't the only thing I learned at camp. I learned how to love people that where different then me. I learned to love that sassy girl that isn't afraid to say what’s on her mind. I learned to love that shy, timid girl that had an energetic personality just waiting to burst out. I learned to love that mixed personality boy that was egger to show how many character he could act out. I learned to love that athletic girl that finally found her true calling in life. I learned to love that man who had a passion for teaching the youth to fight to what they believe in, and that you are capable of all things.
I am not one that likes showing there emotions. But I can honestly say from the top to the bottom of my heart that when I had to say my good byes to them, it was extremely heart braking. I fought so hard not to cry, but not only did I cry, my heart cried too. As many camps I been to, I have never had a hard time saying good bye. This camp was different though, we weren’t just a group of students getting together for an organization. We were group of students that became a family!
-Britney Walker-Merritte
September 21, 2008 3:31 PM Anonymous said...
Doc Richardson wrote:
It was but a blessing to get an email from a friend concerning the summer debate camp. Honestly, I didn't tell my children about it at all. One was away at another camp, but I took my 12 year old son. He was shocked and adamant that he was not going. How dare I plan something and not tell him. How dare I as a parent sit back and not help guide his future. I figured the worst thing was his missing a week of cartoons and video games. He loves to verbally challenge and hold convincing arguments. What an excellent opportunity to get some expert experience in this area. My son WILL be the first male in his family to graduate high school and go to college. He IS an African-American that is NOT destined to go to jail! Society makes all kinds of things available for our children to fail or succeed, but it is up to us as parents to help them make the right choices. Mr. Mays made some rough decisions in his childhood and wants to help kids do better. His wonderful assistants, Lamarcus and Brandon are young mannerable Black men that help him to do this. I do not have financial assets to give but I can and do give my time and try to help them meet others that do have the finances. My son Taylor said he was shy, but even I can't tell it anymore after the camp. He even took a leading role in his church ministry (God's Puppeteers). These skills will help him become that great well-spoken lawyer or video game programmer. Again, it may not be perfect, but what a heck of a start! With practice and time even the Urban Debaters can become great. Like Mr. Mays, I too studied at TSU, however I did not have the benefit of working under Dr. Freeman. Let's support Mr. Mays and his freshman team and inspire them to achieve their highest potential.