Location
Palo Alto High School50 Embarcadero Avenue Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301(650) 937-9831
Overview

Student-Teacher Ratio 5:1

Newly designed for 2024, Intermediate-level Speech & Debate camp sessions are the perfect option for younger middle school-aged students with one summer of prior PASDC regular-level participation, or students with some experience with public speaking and debating in school and/or after school programs. Camp sessions will be activity-focused, emphasizing broadly applicable skills for multiple competitive formats of speech & debate. 8th & 9th graders should also enroll at this level unless they have prior experience, in which case they should enroll in Advanced sessions. Students are strongly encouraged to double-enroll in both Speech (morning) & Debate (afternoon) sessions for a full day experience – and take advantage of our $100 double-session discount!

Cancellation Policy
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From Provider (2)
Reviews
4.9 (18)
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(Regular Debate Camp)
June 12, 2024 - Adele zhou
Verified Purchase
The Friday show organization was poor.
For the L1 speech show, the scripts given for interpretive speeches were way too long, 12-15 minute per campers! The show lasted almost 2 hours without a break.
For the L1 debate camp, I was told by 3 campers that it wasn't very interesting. All the final debate topics are the same. The worst is that they scheduled 2 debates at the same time in the same room for the sake of saving time! Some counselors also talked loudly while campers were debating. I could barely hear anything my from the debaters right in front of me. The debaters had a hard time concentrating. Then there was an hour when there was nothing else to do but some bunker games. I don't understand why didn't they hold debate one-by-one if there was nothing else to do after?
Most counselors were first-year high schoolers, clearly didn't have much experience in organizing the camp. They were all very nice though.
Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp
June 12, 2024
Hi Adele, thank you for your feedback. We appreciate your specific notes about our Friday showcase, and will discuss it as a leadership team before our next event. To answer your question, we'd love to be able to run debate rounds one-by-one, but we have limitations to the number of classrooms we have access to, due to other camps using our campus and maintenance work. In our experience, most folks enjoy the activities and games we do at the showcase, as it gives them a sampling of what camp is like for students. Please feel free to reach out directly to me anytime if you have further questions or concerns, and thanks again for choosing PASDC.

- Kyle Hietala, Executive Director
khietala@pausd.org
(Regular Debate Camp)
June 8, 2024 - Kashmira Bakshi
Verified Purchase
My child thoroughly enjoyed this camp. The teachers of the camp were members of the PALY Debate team and were highly talented and skilled, who made the camp fun for the kids. My son stayed engaged throughout the camp and got introduced to some valuable skills. Highly recommend it for any middle-schooler.
Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp
June 9, 2024
Thank you so much, Kashmira! We hope to see your son again next summer.
(Regular Speech Camp )
June 11, 2023 - Z Yu
Verified Purchase
My son, a rising 5th grader, joined this camp for the first time. Before joining he was hesitant and almost refused to go. However, after the first of the camp, he was put to ease and quick made some new friends. He went onto to enjoy this camp and at the last day he told me that he was interested in going back next year :) The counselors were high school sophomores and juniors from Paly, super nice and helpful! My son learned quite a bit from the camp and we are looking forward to returning.
Questions & Answers
Is this a free camp? I don’t see a fee posted anywhere.
asked on Jan 16, 2023
About Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp
Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp (PASDC) improves kids’ critical thinking and public speaking skills in a fun, social camp setting. Many campers attend both…
Usually responds within 1 business day
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