Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Georgetown Debate Seminar.
We're delighted to revive the tradition of the Georgetown Debate Institute this summer. Hundreds of students and instructors fondly recall their intense summers along the banks of the Potomac. 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. The opportunity to revisit that legacy both excites and humbles us.
Times, of course, have changed. A large number of colleges and universities adopted Georgetown's blueprint, creating debate workshops of their own. To merit your consideration this summer, our instruction and curriculum must not only succeed, but excel. We're confident that it will.
Here's why.
1. SUPERLATIVE TEACHING
Attending the Georgetown Debate Seminar guarantees you three weeks of individualized attention from Jonathan Paul, Josh Branson, and Michael Antonucci. As we will run one 24 student lab, every student will have equal access to an unrivalled teaching staff.
2. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
DC is the real center of national policymaking. This does not mean that we will take you on some soulcrushingly awkward tour of monuments and civic institutions.
Instead, we will incorporate lectures from experts in campaign politics, law and policymaking. Our guest lecturers will all combine genuine expertise with a real background in competitive debate. You will not be subjected to hours of background discussion. Your lecturers will know what debate is. They will know that you want to win. They will help you accomplish this goal, while genuinely enriching your debate experience.
Our current slate of lecturers includes James Kvaal. Their genuine and deep understanding of policy and legal dynamics, informed by their debate training, will help guide your own argument development past the trite and superficial.
We anticipate adding other high-profile lecturers, drawing especially from Georgetown faculty and alumni/ae; please subscribe to this blog for continuing updates.
3. COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
You probably want to get in - perhaps as your top choice, perhaps as one option among many.
We definitely want you to get in.
We will devote an afternoon and evening to the discussion of this mutual interest. We will offer counseling on essay writing, a sense of Georgetown's ideal student profile, and direct advice from a University admissions representative.
[NOTE: Seminar attendance will not influence Georgetown admissions decisions, and it is not a prerequisite to recruitment by Georgetown debate. We offer this session purely for the purposes of information and advice.]
4. INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM
Our faculty's worked at over five different camps. We know what works and what fails.
We hope to synthesize these elements and introduce a few innovations to create a formula for competitive excellence.
Please peruse a full list of our curricular innovations, as well as a (rough draft) day by day schedule for the Institute.
We're already very proud of the institution that we're assembling. We hope you share our enthusiasm and elect to join us this summer.
