Alumni

The Chicago Debate League’s alumni have gone on to lead outstanding lives. Among other things, CDL alumni have graduated from the program to become, among other things, community activists, teachers, lawyers, academics, and businesspersons.

If you are an alumni of the Chicago Debate League and would like to help with tournaments, serve as a judge or mentor, please join our Alumni listserve here: cdl-debaters-and-alumni@googlegroups.com

Alumni spotlight:
Voltaire Rico Sterling was reared on the South Side of Chicago, IL and attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School where he participated in the Chicago Urban Debate League from 1995-1996. As a debater, Voltaire was coached by Les Lynn of the NAUDL. After high school, Voltaire attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Voltaire earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Harvard Law School, where he was the first black Class President and Commencement Speaker. He is admitted to the Illinois Bar. Realizing, however, that acting is his true calling, Voltaire left the law to pursue head-on his bliss as an actor. Denzel Washington recently hand-picked Voltaire and cast him, at the time without an agent or manager, as the debater “Otheree Hubbard” in the much anticipated feature film The Great Debaters.