SpeakFirst enriches the academic experience of gifted students from Birmingham’s public high schools through participation in an “all-star” debate team. This highly collaborative initiative addresses a wide array of needs created by the deficit of opportunities and resources in their local communities, including one-on-one tutoring and mentoring, college admissions and financial aid guidance, standardized test preparation, youth development activities, and summer internships for the debaters.

Current educational opportunities for many of Alabama’s gifted children are compromised by a poorly funded public school system and lack of educational choices outside of the classroom, which subsequently limits academic performance and achievement. As is the case in many urban centers across the nation, the consequences of limited learning opportunities for Birmingham’s most promising students can be devastating. Unless their educational experience is one that includes schools with extensive resources and a wide array of opportunities for extracurricular learning, it is unlikely that their social and academic needs will be fulfilled. In an effort to address these circumstances, the SpeakFirst program provides students with the opportunity and resources to overcome these limitations. The foundational element of the program is competitive debate, which serves as a starting point for developing a stronger overall academic skill set as well as confidence and social skills.

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