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Dawson Xiong

Toronto, ON

Dawson Xiong has been involved in his community for a few years. He started taking initiative in Grade 9 when he began helping out with his local baseball club - helping to coach their T-ball team. Dawson also helped out with an immigrant service organization and participated in clubs. He was motivated to become more active in his community after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Victoria Park (VP) Debate

VP Debate is a youth-run school club that aims to improve debate skills for anybody who wishes. In weekly meetings, experienced debaters teach extremely detailed lessons about various debating skills, which is followed by a debate. VP Debate also offers opportunities to go to different tournaments. Prizes are also offered to those who perform well and/or show commitment and improvement.

https://sites.google.com/view/vpdebate2223/home

About this Project

Communities Served

My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:

  • At risk youth & children
  • Refugees & newcomers
  • Racial or visible minorities

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.

  • SDG 4: Quality education
  • SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
  • SDG 1: No poverty

How the project works

VP Debate offers debate training to 3 groups - Casual, Intro and Competitive. Each group is composed by 10 members and 2 experienced debaters leading, by teaching as well as judging debates. This initiative has expanded significantly with the invaluable guidance and support of the Sprout Fellowship. Our activities include a diverse range of both online and in-person events.

Project Impact

VP Debate has had a massive impact on many people, such as the debaters and even the team. Firstly though, the debaters. Many debaters started out in the "casual" or "intro" group, and have progressed past the club, attending many tournaments and placing prestigiously (i.e. one member went to Harvard for a tournament). Other debaters have just found their love for public speaking. For the team, it was and is a unique experience to spread the love of debate.

Project Mission

VP Debate's mission is to teach others about debate - for free. Debate education is extremely expensive, and is therefore out of reach for many families. To add to this, for those who wish to improve at debate, tournaments are expensive. VP Debate offers a solution through free quality lessons taught by experienced debaters as well as subsidies for costly tournaments.

Project Team

The team is comprised of grade 9-11 students who are passionate about debate.

  • Dawson Xiong
  • Anna Liang
  • Tazmeen Mohsin
  • Percy Zhao
  • Sasvin Karunamoorthy
  • Sarah Wang
  • Alisa Chen

Video Name or info

VP Debate's Very Best