Apr 29, 2024 At 03:33 PM EDT
Coming into his senior year, Jun Kwon of Port of Los Angeles High School in Los Angeles was feeling the pressure. He spent the first few months of the school year like many of his peers, focusing on academics and college applications. But in the spring, Kwon swapped personal essays for affirmative and negative speeches when he returned to debate competition.
Last year, Kwon and his debate partner, Delmy Lopez, won the Urban Debate National Championship and set high expectations for themselves to get to the national finals once again. After taking a step back from debate this past fall, the pair began entering tournaments again in their second semester. As the winners of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League (LAMDL) National Qualifier Tournament in February, the team earned a spot at the 2024 UDNC.
But when Kwon walked onto Northwestern University's campus for the 2024 UDNC earlier this month, he was more than just the defending champ, he was also the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues' 2024 Debater of the Year.
The NAUDL Debater of the Year is an award that recognizes a debater within the Urban Debate network who demonstrates commitment to debate, improvement in their academic performance and leadership in their school, debate leagues and community, according to NAUDL.
"I've been awarded in terms of competitive success—with speaker awards and going to the semifinals, finals, winning tournaments, [but] I think being named Debater of the Year in a community that I value a lot is kind of the cherry on top of what I've seen as a successful career," Kwon told Newsweek. "It's a testament to how much I love the activity."
This year's list of the top eight finalists was released on February 9, and Kwon was officially announced as the winner on March 8. The Debater of the Year receives a college scholarship of at least $2,500 and the other finalists are also awarded college scholarships of at least $1,000.
As part of the Debater of the Year application, students must show they have a GPA of at least 2.0, have been active in their Urban Debate league for at least two years, share a résumé of leadership services in the debate community, receive a letter of recommendation from a coach or league representative and demonstrate how debate has transformed their lives, according to Sara Sanchez, NAUDL's director of programming and communications.
Lopez has been debating with Kwon for years. She told Newsweek that she's proud of Kwon for getting the recognition he deserves.
"All his hard work that he's put in the past four years and really immersing himself into the debate activity has been really meaningful for him," she said. "He's being rewarded for something that he's put his blood and sweat into."
In his application, Kwon said he included a few paragraphs in the "Additional Information" section reiterating his love for debate.
"I wrote about how every day, some form of debate has been in my brain, whether I am actually debating, doing the research or just thinking about what I could have done in previous rounds," he said.
This season, Kwon said he and Lopez greatly improved their overall debate skill level. They used the scholarship money they earned as 2023 UDNC champions to pay for debate camp this past summer at the University of Michigan.
"We got a lot better," he said. "We spent a month there just talking about debate, eating and sleeping, that's it."
Lopez adds that Kwon took her under his wing last season, bringing her from the local to the national circuit.
"I feel like I've grown very much in knowing what debate is and the technical terms that come with it, like what spreading is and how I should critically think during the debate and how I should prep," she told Newsweek. ("Spreading" refers to the act of talking extremely fast in a debate round.) "Last year, I wasn't very good with that and it was mostly [Kwon] taking the reins on that."
This year, Lopez said she was confident that if Kwon explained something to her, she could understand it and apply it quickly, as well as give Kwon advice about areas to improve upon during rounds.
Joseph Flores, the program director at LAMDL, said Kwon understands the activity of debate on a level that many other debaters don't.
"He sees the big picture and speaks to the judges," he said. "A lot of other debaters get bogged down in their perspective on the debate that's going on. [Kwon] is able to take that external perspective and empathize with the position of the judge and speaks to that position, which, in general, is probably the hardest skill a debater can learn."
Flores adds that the ability to adapt one's argument to communicate to the audience "separates the good [debaters] from the great ones."
At the UDNC this year, the Port of L.A. team said they wanted to "enjoy the moment," as this was their final debate tournament of their high school careers.
"This tournament setting is unmatched," Kwon said the day before the tournament began. "I've never felt the thrill of being in a three-day weekend of just competing, preparing, going out for dinner and just like the, you know, funny pre-round talks in between. So I think this has been a very valuable journey for the both of us."
When asked if they wanted to become back-to-back champs, Kwon said, "I think we would be lying if we said that that was not on our mind."
The Port of L.A. had a good showing at this year's tournament, making it to the semifinals where they lost to the eventual champions from Kenwood Academy High School, of Chicago Debates. Kwon and Lopez were also named the sixth and ninth top speakers of the tournament, respectively.
For Kwon, the lessons he's learned from debate, despite not repeating as champions, will continue to have a profound impact on every area of his life.
"I think debate is the single most valuable activity that someone could take part in in high school," he said. "I think it requires so many different facets of your skills: listening, writing, reading, all of these things are so necessary to be a good student."
In his personal life, Kwon said debate helped him navigate difficult conversations with his Asian immigrant family and within the Asian-American community. While he used to struggle to provide answers when discussing "controversial" or sensitive issues with people with whom he disagrees, he is now able to provide constructive conversation.
"I think debate is very valuable because the fact that we have to be affirmative and negative on the same topics, on different sides of the aisle, [it] makes it so that you have to understand both sides of an issue," he said.
In his academics, Kwon said debate has helped him improve as a reader, writer and a researcher. He adds that debate led him to study politics, law and international relations, which has changed the way he engages with the world and helped his views become more well-rounded.
All those weeks spent researching pressing social, political and economic issues has inspired Kwon and Lopez to pursue degrees in political science. Kwon is still currently deciding between two schools: UC Berkeley and UCLA.
"Just one extracurricular activity has shifted our lives to influence our major and probably changed our lives," he said.
Kwon's experience with debate has also inspired him to become more of an activist in his community. On his Debater of the Year application, Kwon wrote about the idea of complacency in the "Advocacy" section.
He said debate is about learning to identify an issue that is wrong, or the status quo, and find solutions for it. Kwon has taken this lesson outside of the debate rounds to make efforts to improve his community.
"Not taking the next step to change the issue is something that I've decided to grow out of as a debater," he said.
One of Kwon's main efforts includes working with a food drive called 5Breads & 2Fish that is organized by Oaks of Righteousness Ministry in Los Angeles. The organization sets up weekly stands on the street to bring groceries and meals to people living in low-income communities.
When the operation was shut down at one location by police due to long lines and noise complaints from neighbors, Kwon worked with the L.A. City Council to come up with a solution and ensure the program could continue. The food drive was able to move to a nearby park where it could operate without a permit and still be accessible to the community.
"I understood the value of the program because if that truck leaves, then it's easy for the organization to just set up somewhere else, but it's not as easy for the people who are relying on the organization to put food on the table, not only for them, but for their family," he said. "Understanding that, I think, is kind of what mobilized me to look for solutions."
Kwon may have lost his final round at the UDNC, but he said his trips to the national tournament have shown him the value of community within NAUDL beyond competition.
"I think we both kind of really understand how valuable some of these connections can be, not only now, but moving forward with school and careers," he said.
The connection he made with his partner, Lopez, for example, has been crucial for their growth. Throughout this journey, Lopez said she could not be prouder of Kwon.
"He can leave the community knowing that he won Debater of the Year and that he knows this community also loves him as much as he loves it," she said.
While the competition season is over, Kwon is not done with NAUDL yet. On May 18, he is set to deliver a speech as the Debater of the Year honoree at the NAUDL Annual Dinner in Miami.
"I think debate has shaped my life so much within these past four years," Kwon said. "It's not even a joke—I cannot stop thinking about debate, but not because I'm obsessed with it, but because everywhere I go, debate is playing some part in it."
