Here at Champion Debate, our goal is to make debate readily accessible for interested campers. Each of our staff teaches to their specialties, and to ensure everyone is exposed to a broad range of material, campers are rotated in "labs" through a regular block schedule.

Below, we've provided a brief sample of our classes and their general descriptions for your perusal. If you have any questions about any given activity, feel free to contact us via our e-mail address-- as always, we're happy to help!

Who thought notetaking could be fun? The skill of extremely accurate and efficient notetaking is known as "flowing" in debate circles, and as a lifesaver in school.

Consider this-- members of our staff are capable of taking a blow-for-blow account of varsity debate rounds, many of which exceed a blistering seven words per second.

Not bad for pen and paper!

Ever had to stay up late trying to finish a research project? We'll make that a thing of the past, with tips and tricks for Internet and library-based research.

Consider this-- the top record among our staff is just over six hundred pages of research compiled over an eight-month period.

Semester and quarter papers aren't quite so bad after that.

Practice might make a speech perfect, but how can you prepare to answer questions that you don't know? This class trains campers to deliver speeches with confidence-- and not to fear the questions that come afterwards.

Consider this-- varsity debaters have five minutes of prep time, shared with a partner, to deliver a total of 36 minutes of speech.

For this year's camp, we've chosen to teach the 2011-2012 national policy debate topic, or resolution: the exploration and development of space.

Background knowledge is essential to debate, and we'll cover more about this fascinating topic than you ever thought of before, from its history to current scientific applications.

Fun fact: while fuel cells are often thought of as new technology, they powered the famous Apollo command modules.

Part and parcel with our focus on background knowledge, we also emphasize that campers keep abreast of current events. This is particularly true right before our end of camp tournament.

Being aware of the world around us is a crucial part of being an active citizen, and many former debaters have noted that their experiences had greatly helped them later in life.

Fun fact: "Out of date" for us tends to mean "yesterday."

No matter how serious the topic, we know that summer is your time off from school. Our schedule includes a balance of work and play, giving both our staff and our campers the rest they need.

These periods also provide bonding time for the campers-- something that can be crucially important for those rising into high school next year.

Fun fact: The majority of our staff met one another as campers at Champion Debate!