Hoya Sophomore Scholars Program
**Applications Open Now**
Dates
June 21 – July 24, 2026
Tuition
$7,000.00 Per Resident. Financial aid is available for those
with demonstrated financial need.
Details
This is an intense five-week program for the top rising sophomores across the country. While other workshops focus on juniors or seniors, we provide a unique opportunity for sophomores. Students will use a high-quality starting evidence set designed to facilitate advanced speeches and debates on a near-daily basis, interspersed with lab instruction and exposure to guest experts from D.C.’s unbeatable field of public policy professionals. Students will also research and develop their own arguments. Each lab will produce a distinct evidence set, and progressively strategize and innovate against the other labs’ arguments, culminating in a full-length tournament at the end of the program.
Faculty
Dawn Pierce
Policy Debate Curriculum Coordinator & Director of the HSS Program
Dawn is the Head Coach for debate at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., where she has so far coached multiple teams into qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Prior to coaching at Georgetown Day School, she was a coach at Montgomery Bell Academy, where she coached multiple teams to late elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions.
Prior to coaching, Dawn competed in policy debate at Emory University, reaching elimination rounds in multiple tournaments, including Semifinals at the Cross Examination Debate Association National Championship tournament.