SPEAK Spring 2025 by Maggie Pierce

speaksolutions
May 23
2 min read

SPEAK volunteers at the 2025 Lawrence Debate Union banquet. From left to right: Maggie Pierce, Ariel Schuck, Julian Henry, Gavin Alberts, and Emily Sakash. Not pictured: Kitana Hudgens, Skye Whalen, and Will Raihall.

Debate is a vulnerable practice. It requires great trust towards one’s partners and opponents to stand behind the podium and utter your defense with your full chest. I’ve always appreciated the element of community debate provides, and my time in SPEAK for our spring semester has only further solidified this appreciation.

SPEAK’s spring session at CRCF concluded on April 4, 2025. Participants chose to debate the following topic: Restorative justice is better implemented as preventative programming over responsive programming in the criminal legal system. After weeks of developing, practicing, and sharpening arguments, volunteers and participants debated in front of our largest audience to date. Participants brought their friends, new and old alike, to share their hard work.

This is no different than previous semesters. However, the vastness of it all struck me like it was my first time watching a debate. Spectators eagerly knocked on the table in support of arguments, applauded each speaker after their speeches, and deliberated among themselves when prompted to vote for the winner. Due to their excitement, volunteers opted to come in an additional week to give new folks the chance to debate the same topic. As we left the facility that evening, volunteer Will Raihall mused, “It feels like SPEAK is just really working.”

Our volunteers are integral to SPEAK’s success. We honored them at the 2025 Lawrence Debate Union banquet for their service, but a certificate seldom captures all the grit and optimism required for this program.

Volunteering in a correctional facility means working with a transient population. More of our participants than ever were sentenced, released, or re-incarcerated this session cycle than ever before in our experience. All of these developments are bittersweet in different ways. I am more honored than ever that they continue to bring their friends to our group and expand our debate community. We look forward to seeing them soon for our summer session.