Georgetown Policy Debate Seminar

Dates: June 20th-July 9th, 2021

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  • The Georgetown Debate Seminar will retain all of our excellent faculty and staff. Our instructors are among the most competitively successful and pedagogically-minded debate coaches in the country, at both the high school and college levels. 
  • All of our instructors are currently actively engaged in remote education, and thus well-versed in the best practices of virtual learning. Our faculty members are focused on curriculum design and preparation for the camp, and are judging and coaching remote debates to ensure maximum familiarity and expertise.
  • All instructors will be present and active in instruction every day.
  •  A traditional strength of Georgetown’s debate camp, in part due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., has been lectures from topic experts. This remains the case. We will have multiple guest speakers, including Neal Katyal – Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, and more to be announced soon.
  • Schedule: We will combine synchronous and asynchronous educational techniques to ensure that each day is varied, exciting, and productive, without sacrificing physical or mental health. See below for more information about the basic schedule.

We will use the following basic schedule for the 3 weeks of the program; please note that all times are Eastern Time.

Sunday, June 20th: 2-5 PM and 7-9 PM EST – Orientation, Introduction to Labs

June 21st-July 9th (Monday-Saturday, with Saturday content more flexible and optional):

10:30AM – 12:30 PM EST: Lectures & lab sessions – combination of synchronous and asynchronous content

2PM – 5PM EST: Lab sessions/group discussions and activities/research/practice speeches and debates – synchronous

7PM – 9PM EST: Assignment work, office hours, panel discussions, practice speeches and debates, and/or virtual social activities – combination of synchronous and asynchronous content 

Sundays: Off

Why Georgetown?

  • Held onsite at Georgetown University’s beautiful main campus in Washington, DC.
  • Operated by GU’s national championship-winning Policy Debate Team and coaching staff.
  • Employs some of the very best instructors from both college and high school policy debate, with diverse backgrounds and a shared track record of competitive success at the highest levels.

Application Fee: $40 (waived for financial aid applicants)
3 Week Program
$2000
2 Week Program
$1500

Faculty

Darcell Brown

Head Coach, University High School Academy (MI)

Darcell debates for Wayne State University, where he qualified for the 2020 NDT. He is the head coach at University High School Academy in Southfield, Michigan, where he has twice qualified teams to the Urban Debate National Championship (2018-2019), making it to the Octo-Finals both times. This year, his top senior was a Finalist for Debater of the Year. This will be Darcell’s fifth year as an instructor at the Georgetown Debate Seminar. He has also taught at other camps, including the Detroit Summer Institute, DC UDL Camp, and the Spartan Debate Institute.

Nick Lepp

Assistant Coach, University of Georgia and Cypress Bay High School

Nick Lepp has coached at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he coached the team of UNLV GH to receive a first round bid to the National Debate Tournament as the third ranked team in the country. He now coaches at the University of Georgia. During his five years at James Madison University, Nick was a four-time qualifier to the National Debate Tournament himself and an octofinalist at the Cross Examination Debate Association national debate tournament, as well as the winner of numerous regional tournaments. Nick is currently an assistant debate coach at Cypress Bay high school where he has coached their most recent team to two break rounds at the Tournament of Champions. He has also coached several previous schools to qualify to the Tournament of Champions.

Terrell Taylor

Assistant Coach, Montgomery Bell Academy and the University of Mary Washington

Terrell Taylor is an experienced debate coach and instructor who coached the 2020 winner of the Tournament of Champions. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in English and Comparative Media Analysis & Practice at Vanderbilt University.

Tim Mahoney

Director of Debate, St. Mark’s School of Texas

As a college debater, Tim advanced to the final round of 10 tournaments, winning seven of them. As a college coach his teams reached the elimination rounds at 9 consecutive CEDA National tournaments, and he qualified teams for the NDT every year after the merger. In his last year of college coaching, his top team was in the quarter finals of both the NDT and CEDA Nationals. His St. Mark’s teams have won or reached the final round of every major high school tournament including, Greenhill, Glenbrooks, Harvard, Berkeley, Westminster, TOC, NFL/NSDA, Emory, and the NDCA National Championships.

jon sharp

Director of Debate, Georgetown Day School

jon sharp returns for another summer at the Georgetown Debate Seminar as one of its most dedicated, accomplished, and well-loved instructors. At both college and high school levels, jon has coached teams to the late elimination rounds of every major tournament in the country, including multiple CEDA National championships and consistently impressive TOC performances. jon’s unmatched argumentative flexibility and commitment to empowering students has earned him the admiration of countless debaters and coaches.

Danielle Verney-O’Gorman

Director of Debate, United States Naval Academy

Danielle O’Gorman has been the Director of Debate at the United States Naval Academy since 2005, where she also teaches in the Political Science department. She coaches teams at all levels of collegiate debate but particularly enjoys helping less-experienced debaters advance in skills and research ability. Prior to joining the Georgetown staff, she taught at the Gonzaga Debate Institute, the Liberty Debate Camp, and the Capitol Classic Debate Institute.