Overview
Camp Dates:
July 27, 2025 (Sunday) - August 4, 2025 (Monday)
For residential campers: July 27 is the move-in/arrival day, and Monday August 4 is the move-out/departure day. For commuter campers: the first day of camp is Monday July 28, and the last day of camp is Sunday August 3. Camp instruction for all campers runs Monday July 28 - Sunday August 3.
Eligibility Requirements:
Middle school students (at least 12 years old by the time when camp begins) and high school students with English language proficiency.
Enrollment Deadline:
We encourage early enrollment (fall 2024 - early spring 2025) because the debate camp was full for summer 2024 and we expect it to be full again for summer 2025. Email camp director Armands Revelins (aor4@cornell.edu) for instructions on how to apply and enroll.
Join us for an in-person camp on Cornell's Ithaca campus this summer! During this camp, high school students will learn new debate skills and have opportunities to practice them in intra-camp practice exercises as well as adjudicated tournament debates. Our instructors include Cornell faculty (including ivy league faculty as camp lecturers is a unique feature of this camp!), esteemed debate coaches from successful programs at both high school and college programs, and top college debaters. Students will receive cutting-edge academic insights into contemporary political topics. Our instruction on debate techniques will utilize the World Schools Debate (WSD) format while also providing a broader slate of instruction that is relevant to all debate formats. At the end of the camp, students will participate in Cornell's Debate Camp Tournament using the WSD format.
Camp Dates: July 27, 2025 (Sunday) - August 4, 2025 (Monday)
Please note that July 27 is the arrival date for residential campers, and August 4 is the departure date for residential campers. If you will attend the camp as a residential camper, you should plan to arrive on July 27 (not before), and you should plan to depart on either August 3 (after our afternoon banquet concludes) or on August 4, but not after. If you will attend the camp as a commuter (local) camper, you should plan to attend starting in the morning on July 28 and then have your parents pick you up on August 3, after our afternoon banquet concludes.
Commuter campers receive the same instruction and programming as residential campers from 9am-5:30 pm from July 28-August 3, with lunch provided. Parents/guardians are to drop off and pick up their children each day.
Residential campers receive instruction and programming from 9am-5:30 pm from July 28-August 3, with all meals provided, residence at on-campus dorms, staff-supervised activities during evenings, and staff supervision from their arrival on campus until their departure.
Camp format and features
Worlds Schools Debate Format
World Schools Debate (WSD) is a 3-student vs 3-student debate format that challenges students with both impromptu and prepared topics. This is the only event to have an international high school championship tournament each year – World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC). The National Speech & Debate Association officially added the World Schools format to their list of competitive events, and high schools throughout the country are adding WSD programs and tournaments. This format also prepares students to smoothly transition into the most widely practiced university debating formats – Worlds University Debate and Asian/Australian Parliamentary Debate. It is also quite easy to learn American and Canadian Parliamentary formats practiced throughout North America after becoming an expert in World Schools.
All-Format Relevance
Our diverse staff has past and ongoing experience coaching champion debaters in many formats of debate - Worlds Schools, British Parliamentary, Worlds University Debate, Policy, Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, and even Speech events. Our camp is also unique because it gives students access to Cornell professor lectures on social issues, where the content of those lectures becomes the topic of student debates. This depth of coaching experience and academic knowledge is used to emphasize the big picture of what makes a good argument about timely topics, ensuring that such fundamentals carry over not only to any competitive format but also classroom and life applications.
Features of the Camp
- Full day sessions (9am to 5:30pm ET, July 27-Aug 3) that feature lectures, instruction, and student debates - all taking place on Cornell's central campus in Ithaca.
- Topic lectures by Cornell faculty and lecturers
- Debate lectures and instruction by top debate coaches
- Practice debates and further instruction in small cohort sessions
- Additional opportunities for instruction via elective lectures and office hours with coaches
- Tournament debates where campers can debate campers from other cohorts
- End-of-camp banquet, where each student who enrolls in and completes the camp will receive an official Cornell certificate, including a Cornell University seal, that is dated and signed by Camp Director Armands Revelins and Speech and Debate Program Director Sam Nelson at the end of the camp.
- Residential campers will be housed on Cornell's Ithaca campus dorms, will eat meals at Cornell's dining halls (the same dorms and dining halls used by undergraduate students during an academic semester at Cornell), and participate in staff-led recreational activities on campus from dinner until bedtime.
- Commuter campers will participate in the same 9am to 5:30pm activities as residential campers July 28-Aug 3
Staff and Lecturers
The listed persons are core staff for the camp. More staff will be added as we get closer to the camp start date and as admission grows.
Apply and Enroll
The total cost for the camp is $3,750, including lectures, student programming, practice debates, housing, meals, and supervision from arrival until departure.
We do offer a reduced commuter rate for local parents who would have their child come to the camp just for the daytime content and then go home each day. This option is open to local campers and costs $750.
Eligibility Requirements: Middle school students (at least 12 years old by the time when camp begins) and high school students with English language proficiency.
Enrollment Deadline: Enrollments will be accepted on a rolling basis until the camp is full.
The current method to enroll is to email Camp Director Armands Revelins (aor4@cornell.edu) explaining your interest in the camp. He will then follow up with you via email with an application and instructions on how to pay. We do not currently have a way to directly pay via a drop-down menu/portal on the website (this is forthcoming). Once your child is accepted into the program and the balance due is paid, Armands will also follow up with individual parents with forms (liability, medical, etc) that must be completed by the parents of campers.