efore debate, I wasn't too sure what the future held in store for me. I thought I might end up working in the construction field like most men in my family. College didn't seem like a realistic option.”
During Reuben’s Junior year of high school, a math teacher, tired of his antics in class, saw underneath the jokes and sarcastic remarks, a student who maybe simply wanted to have his voice heard. She recommended that he attend a DUDL informational meeting.
Rueben feels debate opened so many doors for him. He claims to have learned just as much in debate as he did in the classroom, if not more. Debate gave him the skills to turn his grades around, apply to, and receive the Daniels Fund Scholarship. Inspired by the power of advocacy he learned in the DUDL, Reuben eventually become not only the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, but from law school as well.
“The opportunity to participate in debate was crucial to developing the skills that made law school, and now my career as an attorney possible: analytical reading, argument construction, and critical thinking. Debate truly was a life changing activity for me.”