Congressional Debate

What to Expect

Hello, and congrats on furthering your debate education by attending the MGC Debate Camp! Attending the MGC, will provide a quality education in Congressional Debate that will give you the edge when the competition season starts. Congress is, by nature, a group activity. You will be working in groups throughout the camp. I am a firm believer in collaboration, so the more I can get you all interacting with each other, the more engaging camp will be!

Participants will benefit from:

• Live lectures taught by Brian Alford and award-winning junior staff
• Personalized coaching feedback from one-on-one training sessions
• Explorative learning during office hours led by lab leaders
• Head start with research and speech prep for the fall TFA Congress docket
• Training on the fundamentals of being a Presiding Officer

All skill levels are welcome at the MGC. Whether you are a beginner or a 2nd/3rd year competitor, we can help you fine tune your skills and get you ready for competition. We will be focusing on research and writing skills, delivery skills, and optional PO workshops during some of the office hours. We will focus on the first 8 items on the TFA Docket, which will be released in June (www.txfa.org).

We look forward to seeing you in person at the UTD Campus in July! Get some good pens and a legal pad, and we will see you in July!

Congressional Debate Schedule 2024

Director's Statement

Welcome to the world of Congressional Debate! Congressional debate takes aspects of both public speaking and debate and joins them with parliamentary procedure to give us a real-world applicable event. Congressional debate involves researching, critical thinking, analysis, and a knowledge of the world around you. Through congress, you will explore many different and unique aspects of a topic in a fast-paced, group environment. Whether you are new to the activity or whether you have some experience, this camp will challenge you and get you well on the road to success in the upcoming TFA season.

I invite you to join us this summer and rethink the way you debate.

Divisions, Date and Pricing

Division Director

Brian Alford

Director of Speech and Debate, A&M Consolidated High School

Director of Speech and Debate at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. Prior to this, he was the Assistant Director of Forensics at James Bowie High School in Austin. Over the past 8 years, Brian has qualified students to the TFA State Tournament, the UIL State Tournament, the NSDA National Tournament, and the University of Kentucky TOC. Brian has also coached students to UIL State Championships in Congressional Debate and NSDA national finalists in Congressional Debate. He has also had students compete in the finals of many national circuit tournaments. Brian currently serves as the Chair of the TFA Congressional Debate Committee.

Division Staff

Ethan Wilkes

Ethan graduated high school in 2023 and now studies mathematics at UT Austin. During his time competing in congress, he finaled at NSDA nationals 3 times, placing 12th, 7th, and 6th. He won the Yale University and Sunvite invitationals, placed 6th at Harvard, and 4th at the TOC. He was also the runner-up of the Harvard Round Robin. He also has final round appearances at Emory, Florida Blue Key, Stanford, UT Austin (2x), TFA, and Bronx. Additionally, at 2023 6A UIL state, he won LD, placed 3rd in persuasive extemp, and 3rd in congressional debate. Outside of speech and debate, Ethan enjoys playing cards, watching college football (HOOK 'EM), and editing Wikipedia articles. He is beyond excited to be coaching again at MGC this summer!

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