Black Teens Make History With Third Consecutive Win at Harvard Debate Competition

Due to the lack of diversity in higher education, specifically in the country’s highest-ranking universities, many institutions have created different programs to close the gap to give youth from all socio-economic backgrounds a chance at a high-quality education. Atlanta is the home of the Harvard Diversity Project (HPD) where high school students can participate in different activities sponsored through the Ivy League university. This week, two of the program’s participants made history with their win at the Harvard University Debate Competition.

According to 11 Alive, for the third consecutive year, Madison Webb and Christian Flournoy celebrated their recent win at the prestigious competition. Webb is a high school senior and Flournoy is a sophomore who made history as the first Black female student and the youngest Black student to come out of the competition victorious. The program has a reputation of positioning Black youth to receive full scholarships and acceptance to different Ivy League and elite colleges and universities around the country.

Every year, the project recruits talented Black youth in the metro Atlanta area to take part in the competition. The program also includes a summer residency at Harvard College where students can debate with other scholars from around the world. This was the first year that the competition was done online in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.