Jessica Bullock '17, a Vermont Law School student who studied at the University of Vermont with the late Alfred Snider, a prominent debate teacher, aims to pay forward her mentor's passion for respectful argument. That cause takes Bullock to Vermont prisons to work with incarcerated men and women, to grade schools in Baltimore, Md., and next to Milan, Italy, where she will instruct teens in the art of debate.
Later this month, Bullock, a Schweitzer Fellow and Social Justice Mission Scholar at VLS, will travel to Busto Arsizio, outside of Milan, to collaborate with ITE Enrico Tosi, an international business school. She'll take the place of Snider, who passed away in December 2015, and work with students ages 14 to 19 and their teachers as part of the WeDebate network of partner schools.
"I am very exited for this opportunity to honor my friend, Alfred 'Tuna' Snider, and share my passion for debate," Bullock said. The New York Times called Snider "a scholar, rhetorician and evangelist who sought to heal the world through debate."
Bullock is the president and founder of SPEAK (Speech, Persuasion, Education, Advocacy, Knowledge), a VLS student group committed to providing public speaking and debate training programs. In 2015 SPEAK created the Vermont Prison Debate Initiative, which provides training to inmates incarcerated at Vermont correctional facilities. SPEAK also offers free training to VLS students and community members, and plans to facilitate debate workshops with middle-school students in Baltimore in the spring.
"Jessica is a creative and dedicated leader," said Professor Margaret Barry, associate dean for clinical and experiential programs at VLS. "Her commitment to using debate as a way to educate and empower has helped students as well as inmates in the Vermont penal institutions. And her energy and vision have inspired others to join her."
For more information about SPEAK, visit vermontlaw.edu/community/student-groups/speak. For more information about students groups at Vermont Law School, visit vermontlaw.edu/community/student-groups.
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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation's largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master's Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, and Center for Applied Human Rights. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.