09/18/2026
A healthy debate: the 2026 Mayors Challenge raised more than $150K for MNUDL!
Last night, the Minnesota Urban Debate League's 14th annual Mayors Challenge brought students, coaches, families, and supporters together for The Great Healthcare Debate. By the end of the night, our community had raised $150,203 for MNUDL students!
Congratulations to our 2026 Champions, the Saint Paul Public Schools SPPS affirmative team: Ben (St. Paul Central High Debate Team) and Montserrat (Highland Park).
Four debaters from four partner schools researched, wrote, and delivered every word themselves, tackling a question the whole country is weighing: should the U.S. adopt a national health insurance system like Medicare for All? Shyamana from Minneapolis Public Schools and Daniella from ISD 622 North St. Paul - Maplewood - Oakdale challenged the idea that the government would make an equitable system, advocating for mutual aid.
With Nina Moini (MPR) as emcee, the affirmative took the win with 54% of the audience vote. the Minnesota Star Tribune's editorial writer Rochelle Olson announced the winner and reminded our students of the joy of being somewhere "facts still matter" - and pointed out that really, they're all winners for that reason.
We were honored to welcome Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who fielded questions directly from our students about making that first year out of high school a success. Mayor Frey urged them to chase what excites them: "When you're excited, you work hard; when you work hard, you have the tenacity to succeed." Mayor Her, spoke about self-discovery: "Once I could unleash who I was on the inside, unapologetically, I was ready to use my voice."
A night like this can only happen thanks to partners who believe students from the smallest programs can compete with anyone.
Our deepest thanks to:
• Presenting Sponsor: The Minnesota Star Tribune
• Changemaker: Hogen Adams
• Advocate: Dorsey & Whitney LLP · Entenza Law · Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP · Stifel Financial Corp./Adam Garen Greenleaf · Taft Law
• Leader: Allianz · Blaze Credit Union · Briol & Benson, PLLC · Faegre Drinker · Nilan Johnson Lewis PA · Rebecca Shavlik
• Organizational Partner: Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication - University of Minnesota
And to our generous individual sponsors - George Dow, Karon Garen, Veena Iyer, Meg Luger-Nikolai, Jill Skogheim, MBA, and Alex Thiele & Emily Thiele - thank you.
A special thank you to the audience members who offered their hand for the paddle raise, led by fundraising chair Adam Greenleaf and NAUDL Coach of the Year David Quosig. You contributed $73,000 in a single joyful stretch of the evening!
The impact keeps growing. Sheila Peterson/the Peterson Family Donor Advised Fund have offered a match of up to $75,000 for gifts made to MNUDL before the 2026-27 school year ends. Every dollar you give now goes twice as far to put debaters onstage.
Give today and have your gift matched: https://mnudl.augsburg.edu/donate/
Thank you supporting work that helps young people and their ideas take the stage.
We look forward to sharing more photos and a debate play-by-play next week!
