Why Georgetown?

Our Philosophy

Georgetown’s commitment to pedagogy and proximity to the intellectual and cultural resources of the capital created a unique environment that shaped a generation of policy debaters. In 2009, we relaunched our summer program with an innovative curriculum that has been refined by the nation’s very best debate coaches at the high school and collegiate level.

As the 2012 and 2014 National Debate Tournament Champions we are pleased to be able to have the opportunity to share our experience, philosophy and our campus with high school debaters. Our coaching staff and students are committed to ensuring a quality experience for all our attendees and we would like to share with you some of the reasons why we think our program will help you grow.

Great Location

For policy debaters there may be no better place to be than in Washington DC. Our proximity to the Capitol gives our students access to opportunities no other debate camps can provide. Over the past three summers, many of our students had the opportunity to be present at the Supreme Court for the announcement major decisions. We bring in experts on the national high school resolution to help guide your research and argumentative strategy for the upcoming season.

The Georgetown campus and neighborhood, in addition to being vital and amazing, are very safe areas. All public areas of campus are well-lit and routinely patrolled by campus police. The dormitories are staffed 24/7 with security personnel and all visitors must check in with the front desk. All exterior doors to the dorm are locked at all times and students must swipe their Georgetown id card to access the building. The safety and security of our students is our top priority.

Curriculum

If you attend, you’ll receive at least two hundred pages of fully briefed original topic research prepared by the nation’s best debate researchers. This starter set will not supplant your research efforts, but will enable us to begin practice debates immediately. Your first debate will occur within 72 hours of your arrival.

You will participate in at least ten critiqued debates before you depart. You will receive a minimum of one page of written feedback on each of these debates. Each student will have a google document created on their behalf to centralize the comments from the practice debates and this document will be shared with coaches.

Additionally, we are pleased to again offer the “Afterlab” a nightly session of electives that allow students to continue their debate education and interact with the entire faculty of the Georgetown.

Skills Development

Each debater will participate in a minimum of six one-hour skill sessions. These sessions will include rebuttal redos, and “speech editing,” in which we apply the lessons that have helped our own debaters achieve astonishing gains.

This summer, we are pleased to offer a new and innovative approach to teaching research and file production at the workshop. Check back soon for further details.

Transparency and Collaboration

Too often, debate institutes are a black box. Coaches and debaters see what goes in – they see what comes out – but the rest of the process is utterly opaque.

Our day by day schedule will be posted for your inspection PRIOR to the institute’s beginning, so that students and coaches can provide us feedback before the learning even starts.

A wiki will detail argument development as it occurs. Coaches and other interested parties will have access to the camp dropbox, so they can track the argumentative development process. At the end of the session, each coach will receive a single page detailing their student’s progress throughout the institute. If you have criticisms or your own suggestions, tell us – we will consider them and respond promptly to your requests. At Georgetown, you are a stakeholder.