In this course students will build the foundational knowledge to compete in high school debate. Students will learn how to form arguments, research evidence, give speeches, and effective take notes in order to respond to their opponent's arguments. No prior debate experience is necessary. Each class will be structured with a short lecture followed by an activity in order to help students realize the goal of that lesson. Students will be given feedback after the first round of the activity and will be given the opportunity to do a second round in order to immediately improve upon the prior performance in light of the comments they received. Classes end by connecting the activity back to the initial lesson plan to ensure students remember the purpose of the activity and mini-debates. The activities, which are mostly in the form of practice debates, will take up roughly 75% of class time. By the end of camp, students will become better public speakers, critical thinkers, and increase their confidence to speak out as impassioned advocates. A breakdown of the course is as follows...

Monday: Ice-Breakers, Introduction to Debate, Mini-Debates
Tuesday: Impact Analysis, Mini-Debates, Debate Format
Wednesday: Topic Lecture, Prep, Practice Debate
Thursday: Persuasive Speaking, Mini-Debates, Prep
Friday: Mini-Tournament
should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing." No prior knowledge of this topic is necessary. The majority of classes in this camp will be teaching the fundamentals of debate and will not be immediately focused on this topic. Students may feel free to take this course without having the intent to continue onto future courses connected to national competition, which will have that topic as its primary focus.