S.P.R.E.A.D.-Student Partnership to Reach Equality and Accessibility in Debate
What is SPREAD?
The Student Partnership to Reach Equality and Accessibility in Debate, or SPREAD, is a new program the Myers Park High School Speech and Debate Team is starting in the 2008-2009 school year to make the debate program more accessible for all students.
The operating expenses of the Speech and Debate team are high, and as it stands, those costs are passed along to families, through the costs of attending tournaments.
SPREAD reduces those costs for participating students.
There are two campaigns that SPREADers can work on--Laird Lewis Sponsorship, or the Fall Letter Writing Campaign.
How does SPREAD work?
Students who raise money for the team through one or both campaigns keep a portion of what they earn for their own Debate Fund. The Debate Fund can be used to pay for tournaments in the second semester of the year (Emory, Cary Academy, Harvard, Chase, NFL Districts, TFL States, and Nationals). Upon request, it may be used to finance other tournaments.
The goal of our team’s fundraising has always been to make debate more affordable for students--in the past, money that was raised through the Laird Lewis Tournament, and other fundraisers, was simply used to reduce the cost of tournaments. SPREAD, however, enables students to directly make debate more affordable for their family, by participating in the program. Any student can participate.
What are the campaigns associated with SPREAD?
Laird Lewis Sponsorship
The Laird Lewis Invitational, hosted each year in early January, is the Myers Park High School Speech and Debate Team’s biggest fundraiser. In the 2007-2008 school year, it raised over $10,000, money that was used to make the Tarheel Forensic League State Tournament free for students who had participated throughout the year. The tournament, however, has operating expenses, and needs community involvement to thrive.
SPREADers who succeed at going out into the community and getting community support in the form of sponsorships will have 20 percent of all money they receive in team sponsorships credited to their Debate Account.
The Laird Lewis Sponsorship campaign is available from November to December of 2008.
More information is available here
Letter-Writing Campaign
The Myers Park High School Speech and Debate Team will be hosting a letter writing campaign in the fall of 2008. For students who want to participate, a template letter is available to download from the website Students can send the letter to their friends and family.
The letter-writing campaign will be available soon; look back for more information shortly.