Regular Debate Camp

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.

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.

Fantastic experience, my child learnt a lot, enjoyed her time at camp, super supportive peer group and coaches

Excellent camp. My daughter rated it the best camp she's ever attended. My son, who hates camps, happily attended every day.

The counselors are all students involved with Paly's Speech and Debate team. They are high energy, knowledgeable, and provide a supportive learning environment.

The curriculum / content was solid. They also played many games to reinforce skills and have fun.

Both kids want to return for more of this camp next year.

10 year old said it was pretty fun. He learned how to debate and enjoyed the tournament at the end of the week!

Exceeded expectations of both my child and me. Very impressive to see results of one-week of camp. Will continue with this camp.

It was fun because I got to have an experience with making a speech and performing it. The counselors were very supportive and helpful, even when I wasn't that confident in what I had to say. I loved it because I got to learn how to give a speech, especially about a topic I really care about. Thank you.

We would highly recommend the camp. My daughter was nervous about attending camp but was set at ease by the excellent counselors. Throughout the week she learned and become more confident in her abilities. We saw massive improvement.

Our daughter had an exceptional time in the regular debate camp and learned the fundamentals of Lincoln-Douglas form of debate. Being entirely new to debate, she did find the first day a bit confusing, but the other days more than made up for the first day.