Public Forum Debate

Public Forum has continued to grow and evolve as an activity. Two teams of two square-off in a structured Pro-Con format to convince judges that their position, on the most-timely topics of the day, should be endorsed. Public Forum rewards debaters for quality research, efficient refutation, strategic decision-making, and polished delivery. It is necessary for summer workshops to address the evolving nature of the activity and help students navigate a fluid situation. The key to adapting is to be versatile and have the ability to not only debate in front of judges who flow well and are capable of handling technical debate, but also to compete in front of less experienced judges with the capacity to understand arguments that sometimes are very complex.

Students learn best by doing so we will host frequent practice rounds, drills, and redos. Debaters need to learn to debate in front of judges without being condescending or making use of too much jargon. The key to doing well in debate is to develop good arguments. Our focus will be on well researched, well documented, and clearly articulated arguments. We will practice those skills on a daily basis, making sure that students are speaking and debating beginning on the first day. Debaters learn to debate by debating. Our goal will be to help you make the transition from local to regional to national competition. We will do so by focusing on honing the ability to make good arguments. We look forward to working with you this summer.

Our staff of experienced classroom teachers and coaches, along with recent graduates and collegiate competitors, are confident that MGC Institute attendees will leave prepared to meet their goals in the next competitive season.

2024 Schedule

Director's Statement

Debate’s greatest gift and lesson should be the strength of community. Our camp will truly embrace this directive. In addition to honing their individual skills, we will encourage students to create relationships that will make debate a more friendly place for all of us. When students leave Mean Green Comet we hope that they will remain friends with their peers, continue the discussions we have cultivated over the summer with one another, feel that the adults they have interacted with in this space are allies they reach out to if they need them, and truly understand how to make debate more accessible to those that weren’t able to join us this summer. We love to win, but our lasting impact is the lessons we learn and the legacy we leave. Mean Green Comet seeks to create camp alumni who will leave a lasting impact on the debate communities they serve and participate in.

Divisions, Date and Pricing

Division Director

Dave Huston

Dave will be returning to the MGC after a hiatus of a few years. He has worked previously at several workshops, instructing students in all forms of debate. Focusing on Public Forum debate in recent years, he has the distinction of qualifying PF teams to every national tournament since 2015. He is especially adept at helping first and second year debaters in making the transition to full varsity competition by focusing on case writing and good research resulting in well researched and developed cases. He is a member of both the TFA and NSDA Halls of Fame. He has coached national champions in Lincoln Douglas and Policy debate. His Public Forum teams have won or been in late elimination rounds at several regional and national tournaments including the Glenbrooks, UT Longhorn Classic, U Cal Berkeley, Harvard, Emory, and the Tournament of Champions. Mr. Huston is excited about the opportunity to work with students from the North Texas area.

Division Staff

Emily Jackson

After 8 years competing and 7 years judging and coaching, Emily has witnessed success in a multitude of debate formats. As a competitor in high school she qualified to TFA state in LD each year she competed, attended NSDA nationals in World Schools, and made it to the top 64 of Extemporaneous Debate. As an ecology student at UNT, she competed and saw success in NFA-LD, IPDA, and NPDA parliamentary debate. Here at MGC she returns to the debate event that started her career in PF, where she is excited to bring her unique perspective and background in philosophy, ecology, and chemistry to the event she's known the longest.

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