Policy Debate
What to Expect
The Policy Debate Division at the Mean Green Comet Debate Institute is a skills and strategy intensive experience. Between practice rounds, speech redos, mini debates, and other speech activities students will be thinking about and executing debate strategy every day of the institute. Students will leave the institute with a solid understanding of debate arguments and strategy, prepared to not only execute on the topic generics produced by the camp but also to develop and write new and innovative arguments.
Students will learn to exceed in their circuits. Special time is taken to teach students to adapt their speaking style and arguments to the common set of judges they will encounter during their season. The Mean Green Comet Debate Institute has excelled in training debaters to succeed in local and regional circuits, and National Circuit debate. We will create a plan to assure every student is well equipped to use the knowledge they gained at the institute when they return to their circuit.
The MGC policy debate experience focuses on building effective strategy, speaking and research skills for debaters of any level. The following three components provide the foundation for the MGC experience:
In-depth lectures focused on building topic knowledge - the MGC staff break down the topic from every angle, covering what you need to know to have a head start for the 2022-2023 NATO emerging tech topic.
10:1 Student to Staff Ratios means small lab sizes for more contact with nationally recognized staff.
Practice debates with experienced judges - get one-on-one time with our exceptional staff in structured practice debates and rebuttal redos.
On-Line Skills Week (The “OSW”)
New to the 2024 policy program is the On-Line Skills Week (“OSW”) which provides a flexible, online third week option for dedicated debaters looking to get ahead on the 24-25 topic. Through asynchronous sessions, the “OSW” provides guided research, practice, and strategy instruction with our outstanding staff designed to help you get the most from your in-person camp experience. The session is also open to students who did not attend the “in-person” session, for those that want a sharper their skills while receiving an intense topic and argument primer. The OSW will offer the following:
- Intense, small group (1-3 students) practice and redo sessions with MGC staff.
- Ability to do independent research include the development of new affirmatives and negative off case arguments.
- Additional tournament rounds - students who attend all 3 weeks should expect to have up to 20 rounds on the topic before the start of the year.
Policy Debate Sample Schedule
Director's Statement
The policy camp is designed to build the skills necessary to excel in policy debate. Where some camps prioritize evidence production the MGCDI instead focuses on building speaking and research skills while building a solid base of topic knowledge. Lectures and labs are designed to immerse students in the upcoming topic while at the same time emphasizing the importance of practice, strategy and process.
Divisions, Date and Pricing
| Section | Dates | In-Person | Commuter | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Policy Debate |
June 23 – July 6 |
$2,350 |
$1,700 |
N/A |
|
Policy Debate – Online |
July 7 – July 12 |
N/A |
N/A |
$500 |
Division Director
Erik C. Mathis
Assistant Director of Debate, UT Dallas
I love of coaching. Because of the time, energy, and love my coaches shared with me, I have always wanted to give back to debate and to my local UDL. I worked as a volunteer for GSU for many years, helping to coach countless Georgia State students. I also worked in AUDL camps every summer. In 2014, I realized that debate was where I belonged full-time. I accepted multiple positions at Emory, working with the AUDL and coaching students at the middle school, high school, and college levels. As part of the college debate program, I have assisted in coaching many of Emory’s novice teams from their first days in debate to winning records and tournament victories. I have also worked with the varsity program, coaching fifteen teams to the NDT — including seven First Round teams. But I am proudest of the work I’ve done with the AUDL. In 2015, we initiated the Debate Ambassadors program which was designed to take the best students in the AUDL and travel them on the national circuit. The program required me to develop a new coaching structure and maintain adherence to a budget specified by the AUDL. In my first year we had six students by 2019 one of the top twenty-five teams in the country as recognized by a national coaches poll. Our teams have participated in elimination rounds at many tournaments, including NAUDL Nationals, Wake Forest, The Barkley Forum, Harvard, Ohio Valley (Kentucky), and the Greenhill national tournament. Our students have also been invited to the Greenhill and Pace round robin.
I believe that education is fundamentally about inspiring and serving the student population. My role as an educator is to persuade students that learning is important and stimulating, while providing them with opportunities to learn about the crucial issues involved with the classes I teach. I also believe that I should place myself in a position to learn from my students – a position which I believe makes it easier for me to develop student-teacher relationships that revolve around mutual respect. The communication discipline offers many opportunities to connect theoretical and abstract issues directly to the lives of our students, and I believe that I have an obligation to take advantage of those opportunities. A unique diversity of student inspires me to structure my classes in such a way that they provide useful skills and/or perspectives that benefit students directly. I believe that learning occurs most successfully when students regard teachers as reasonable people who are genuinely concerned about students’ welfare. This sense of reasonability must be balanced by an understanding and respect for the teacher’s roles as an evaluator, a classroom facilitator, and an expert in course content. Students should expect to be challenged and held accountable, but in a manner that is consistent with respectful interaction among reasonable adults.
Division Staff
Will Kochel
Will is a student at Macalester college studying Political Science, Data Science, and Music. He has been in debate for 7 years, making it to elims at many major high school and college tournaments including the Tournament of Champions, ADA Nats, and National Debate Tournament.
Kristiana Baez
Kristiana Baez is the Assistant Director of Debate in policy at Baylor University and an assistant coach in LD and policy for The Greenhill School. Kristiana debate at Norman high school before debating at the University of Oklahoma. Kristiana received her Masters in Communication from Baylor University and is currently completing her PhD for the University of Iowa. She previously coached at the University of Iowa and James Madison University.
Sam Gustavson
Sam Gustavson is an Assistant Debate Coach at UT-Dallas. He competed in policy for CE Byrd high school in Louisiana and then debated in college for Baylor University and the University of Iowa. This is Sam’s first year at the Mean Green Comet, and his 10th summer doing debate camp since graduating high school.
Enroll Now!
The MGCDI deadline has been extended until June 16th! Follow the link above to reserve your spot in our 2024 summer program.