<p>I am double posting in case there are parents here whose sons or daughters took up high school and/or college debate..this is posted in Summer programs, too.</p>
<p>My son has very little experience in high school debate due to the limitations of our school district. However, in a fledgling program, he stood out and enjoyed debate very much. He made it to a humble level at States in Forensics with very little training. Truthfully, he has potential but he has never had the chance to observe programs with well-trained student debators. He has tons to learn. </p>
<p>His future college accepts novices, but he has the time to go to camp this summer for debate. He would like to understand debate rules and strategies much better and to begin to develop skills. He has no ego problems and is OK with his humble status as an older newbie, but most programs we locate online do not seem to accept recent high school graduates. He will be 18.5 this summer. Most programs seem to be all about rising 10th and 11th graders, plus some programs cater to the experienced who have references, not to novices.</p>
<p>any leads appreciated!</p>
<p>Anyone have an idea? Anyone know of a camp that is willing to prep students heading for college debate teams? He knows he is not first string material and is simply ready for a learning experience. We are in VA but open to distant places, too.</p>
<p>From what I remember, I believe that Dartmouth, Northwestern and Wake Forest all hold outstanding debate camps that also include college students. I can’t tell you which one is better at that level but I am sure you can find some info on the internet.</p>
<p>You might also ask your son what high schools were the top performers. Contacting the debate coach at those schools might give you some additional leads.</p>
<p>If you hit a dead end, contact me via PM I and I will get you contact info for the Debate Coach at the school my son attended. They are annually nationally ranked, and also each year host one of the “big” tournaments attended by all the top teams from across the US.</p>
<p>I am sure he can give you the guidance you are looking for.</p>
<p>Neighbor’s D went to the Wake Forest debate camp between jr. and sr. year. She had very little debate experience. She felt a little lost at first but she stayed with it and ended up enjoying it.</p>
<p>You might check with the college, they may have some kind of boot camp…</p>
<p>I think a lot of the summer debate institutes focus on the high school students, I know policy debate is focused on gathering data for the topic for next year… not much help if the topic is different in college. There is a lot of information including next year’s high school debate topics on the National Forensics League website.</p>
<p>And I would search for the specific kind of debate plus the words “summer institute” to see what you come up with.</p>
<p>we may have put the cart before the horse…the website at Vandy is about a very specific Cross Examination Debate, so our son will first confer with the Vandy debate coach to see if there is any point to his attending programs geared to develop high school debate champs</p>