About Us
Penn for Youth Debate (PFYD) is a non-profit student group at the University of Pennsylvania that aims to promote debate in the Philadelphia area. To promote debate in the Philadelphia area, PFYD partners the After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP).
PFYD promotes its mission by:
- Providing volunteer mentors to coach Public Forum Debate at public high schools and middle schools in Philadelphia every week
- Organizing two debate tournaments just for Philadelphia students with scholarships for the champions
- Fundraising through the Liberty Bell Classic, an annual national-circuit high school speech and debate tournament.
PFYD currently partners with 20 schools and hosts two tournaments each year, free of charge to students we mentor. In recent years, PFYD mentors have coached students to elimination rounds at several national circuit tournaments and to the NCFL Grand National tournament two years in a row. The members of PFYD have helped students foster a love for speech and debate and grow through their participation in the activity.