To all of our donors - we have big news to share!

Thanks to your generous donations, five members of the Duquesne Debating Society (DDS) were able to travel to Fullerton, California this past weekend to compete at the National Education Debate Association National Championship.

The teams included:

• Edward Stumm who competed maverick in the Varsity Crossfire division

• Noah Martens and Chloe Mortenson in Open Policy

• Janae Staicer and Mary Halyama in Open Policy

After two days of intense competition, the DDS is pleased to report our results:

Open Policy Debate

Speaker Awards

• Janae Staicer - 1st Place

• Mary Halyama - 3rd Place

Team Awards

• Janae Staicer & Mary Halyama - 2nd Place

• Chloe Mortenson & Noah Martens - Quarter-finalists (among the top eight teams, just missing the break to semi-finals)

Open Crossfire Debate

Team Awards

• Edward Stumm - Semi-finalist 

Overall

• In addition, the DDS took 3rd Place Overall in Team Sweepstakes!

Finally, Janae Staicer was named to the 2016 NEDA All American Debate Team, a recognition of her excellent competitive results and leadership over the entire course of her debate career. 

We are very happy to be bringing home several national awards for Duquesne University and are beyond grateful for this opportunity. We would like to say thank you again for helping us get there. This would not have been possible without you!

Warmest regards,

Duquesne Debating Society

We are excited to report that -- thanks to your support -- our crowdfunding campaign concluded on Sunday and we reached our stretch goal of $4,000!

Thanks to the 47 donors to this campaign, a recent change to our travel schedule, favorable travel rates, and additional support from our Student Government Association, we are now in a position to bring five students and a coach to Nationals!! This would not have been possible without the generous donations of our contributors. These donations will also help to protect the funds currently available for our planned programs and activities later this semester.

Again, our heartfelt thanks to all of our contributors whose generosity of spirit has made our trip to Nationals a possibility for so many of our deserving students. We can't wait to update you about our experience!

Shortly a week after launching our campaign, we reached our initial goal of $2,000! THANK YOU to all of our generous donors who have made it possible for Duquesne University senior and Duquesne Debating Society President Janae Staicer and sophomore Mary Halyama to compete at the National Championship this March in Fullerton, CA!

Thanks to the early momentum our donors generated for this campaign, we have announced a stretch goal of $4,000. This will help pay for an additional team – two more students (freshmen Noah Martens and Chloe Mortenson) – to compete at the National Championship and defray costs associated with bringing a coach to the tournament.

The idea of being able to send two Duquesne University teams to the National Championship is only possible because of your immediate support at the launch of our initial campaign. Wish us luck on the second phase of this campaign. We'll keep you updated!

Thank You!