My name is Jason Shinheng Lee, the founder of The Debate Sherpa. Having started competitive debate in 5th grade, I fell in love with the art of making good arguments at a young age. However, in Korea, extracurricular debate is typically taught through expensive private instructional programs that are inaccessible to lower-income families. The activity's esoteric nature, often dominated by wealthy private school students, never sat right with me, especially as debate rounds often focused on ideas of fairness and justice that I felt ironically contradicted the predominantly elite makeup of its participants.

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So, when I got the opportunity to teach competitive debate to first-generation, low-income immigrant students at a Seoul-based community center, I was excited to address some of the faults I saw with the activity. Through weekly lessons, I saw my students blossom into more confident and articulate thinkers, emboldened to voice what they believed in. Inspired by this success, I wanted to help educate and empower other underprivileged students' voices beyond Seoul.

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As a result, I developed The Debate Sherpa website, containing lectures ranging from the beginner to expert levels on approaching common debate ideas, as well as a comic book designed to help introduce younger students to formal argumentation. Furthermore, The Debate Sherpa provides worksheets, including questions on terminology and current events, designed to help teach students debating skills.

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Becoming a strong debater is an invaluable skill for students even when they step off the podium. According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, they found that across 36,000 student debaters, those who competed in debate posted higher grades, standardized test scores, and overall college readiness than non-debaters. With this in mind, every student—regardless of their socioeconomic background—should have the opportunity to learn formal argumentation and debate skills. The Debate Sherpa aims to provide this opportunity to all.