We invite your child to join us for fun filled Saturdays where they will learn the basics of debate, have the opportunity to compete, and move on to higher levels!
Former Debaters Raise $ 1 Million For New Start Up
“It helped a ton with storytelling and fundraising.  I was able to hire two of my close friends at Stanford because of my ability to persuade and storytell – debate taught me how to really sway people to believe in my vision for the world, and that’s something that you need as an entrepreneur.
Debate gave me some very valuable skills when it came to pitching my company and fundraising. Some of the skills needs to persuade judges apply pretty well to persuading VCs to invest, so when I was pitching to people like Marissa Mayer (CEO @ Yahoo) and Parker Barille (VP of Product @ LinkedIn), Â I was very comfortable in my abilities to portray the impact Alma would have on people if it was successful (just like I used to portray the impact of preventing climate change in my debate rounds!).”
— Akashay Ramaswamy
Debate More: Academic Success and University Admissions
The results of this study show that twenty seven percent (27%) of graduating seniors who reached the octofinals or octofinals equivalent rounds (top 16 two-person teams, top 32 students) at NSDA, TOC, and NCFL nationals in Public Forum (PF) debate in 2017 are attending ivy league colleges and universities. Twenty-nine percent (29%) of the same students are attending schools ranked in the top 10 by US News & World Report (“USNWR”). Fifty two percent (52%) are attending schools in the top 20.  Sixty-two percent (62%) are attending schools in the top 30.  Seventy-nine percent (79%) are attending schools in the top 75.
*Debate is hard. Success at the highest levels of Public Forum (PF) debate, requires intelligence, ambition, hard work, and intellectual curiosity. Success in debate is a meaningful accomplishment that demonstrates you can compete against the most academically talented students in the country.
*Given the strength of the academic profiles of debaters, participation in debate will connect students to a talented peer group that will further motivate them to succeed.
*Despite the time commitment that success at this level requires, including missing school for a number of tournaments, based on university admissions results, debate does not appear to undermine one’s grades or SAT scores, two of the most important criteria for admissions. Reasonable data suggests a correlation between participation in academic debate and admissions to top universities in the United States.  There are strong reasons to believe that debate participation is exceptionally positive.
