TRR
RHETORIC ROOM
THE
ABOUT US
The Rhetoric Room is dedicated to fostering critical thinking, civic engagement, and discourse through debate. We aim to educate and expand access to debate for students who may not receive this teaching in school, equipping them with skills to analyze, articulate, and engage with different viewpoints. We combine these skills with real-world and currently discussed scenarios – creating a podcast where experts share their opinions about pressing dilemmas of our time, whether ethical, economic, or political.
"Debate isn’t just about winning an argument—it’s about opening minds. My goal is to make critical thinking accessible to every young person, no matter where they come from."
GET TO KNOW US
OUR FOUNDER
OUR MISSION
OUR VISION
OUR FOUNDER
Itamar Livne-Kricheli is a high school freshman committed to promoting argument and critical thinking skills to youth. With over three years of debate experience (including winning the NYDL championship), he is passionate about making debate more accessible, democratizing access to it, and teaching others about current world topics. This, paired with his interest in current events, led him to found the Rhetoric Room, an organization that not only teaches debate but also runs a podcast where he interviews experts on current dilemmas of our time.
OUR MISSION
We were founded on the mission to make debate more accessible and relevant, empowering the next generation of thinkers and leaders to take on relevant topics and learn how to become arguers and change-makers. While debate may seem like just arguing or competition, it’s a necessary tool to engage with our world and navigate the polarization and questions in our world today. The skills taught by debate – critical thinking, listening, responding to opposing viewpoints – are needed more now than ever before. Public discussions nowadays are polarized and based on little fact, and by teaching debate and introducing diverse perspectives, we create spaces where discourse and tact are encouraged.
OUR VISION
Looking forward, we can scale this project by expanding the debate workshops in communities and schools, while also scaling our podcast to reach wide audiences who can pair the lessons learned in the workshops with applications relevant to our time. This dual approach – combining fundamental skills with big questions that matter on a global level – really allows us to instill in our students the tools to succeed.
By educating debate, we teach new voices how to navigate the public discourse of society and become leaders and change makers. We teach them how to respond to hard questions, to think critically, and have the courage to really engage with the dilemmas of our time.
THE RHETORIC ROOM
© 2025 by The Rhetoric Room
