Is Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp worth it?

Parents recommend Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp and the average rating is 4.9 out of 5. Overall, the reviews indicate that Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp provides engaging and enjoyable experiences for children.

What ages can go to Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp?

Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp has camps for children ages 5 to 16. Age-appropriate activities are designed to engage and inspire children at different developmental stages.

Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp - See 2025 Schedules, Reviews & More

About

Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp

Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp (PASDC) improves elementary, middle school and high school students' critical thinking ability, public speaking, research skills, and self-confidence year after year. The camp is taught by a nationally-ranked, national championship winning high school debate team, with a 5-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio.

Our Staff

Our teachers are varsity Palo Alto Speech & Debate team students, and many are nationally-ranked in their fields of speech and debate, ensuring the best quality instruction for campers. Counselors undergo rigorous training to guarantee that they are excellent role models. The staff is supervised by Kyle Hietala, Program Director of Paly Speech & Debate, a former North American Debate Champion from Yale University's world-renowned Yale Debate Association.

Tax ID (EIN): 99-3733956

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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.

This is helpful(1)

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.

This is helpful

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.

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Questions & Answers

Hi, is it with a 4-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio for online class? (Means there are only 4 students in the same Zoom call). (Regular Speech Camp ) -

asked on Jun 08, 2020

Dec 19, 2020 - Speech Debate

Hello, we have a 4:1 camper-to-counselor ratio within a Zoom, however, they are in larger rooms with around 15-20 campers and 5 counselors. During individual work periods, we break into smaller breakout rooms with one counselor and a handful of students to offer more individualized instruction and help. -

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Is this a live class? (Regular Debate Camp) -

asked on May 28, 2020

Jun 02, 2020 - Speech Debate

Hello, yes, our curriculum will be delivered live, and counselors will work with and teach students in real time. Our camp is synchronous, or live, meaning students and counselors will be on the same Zoom calls at the same time. Does this answer your question? -

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Hello! My son Ari was in the Regular Debate Camp today and I wanted to verify the student teacher ratio in breakout rooms. I can see in the Q&A that the student teacher is 4:1, but Ari says that the teacher student teacher ratio in breakout room was 6:1. I am concerned about adequate individualized attention as well as useful feedback given to the students. Can you please give a little more information about this? Thank you, Mabel Wong (Regular Debate Camp) -

asked on Jun 14, 2021

Jun 15, 2021 - Speech Debate

Hello, the student-teacher ratio in your students's lab, as well as all our labs, is 4:1. Your student's regular debate lab has 17 campers and 5 counselors, so the ratio is closer to 3:1. The reason why your camper's group had a few more students was because certain activities require larger group environments in order to simulate a debate environment. For this reason, when students participate in these activities, they are often in larger groups with more than 4 students. However, students always have the opportunity to work in small groups and individually with counselors in breakout rooms to receive individualized attention and support, and if they feel that they would like more of this help, they can always ask their counselors who will be more than happy to provide it. -

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May I know the student-teacher ratio in the class? (Regular Debate Camp)

asked on Jun 10, 2021

Jun 10, 2021 - Speech Debate

Hello, we have a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio in all of our classes, which allows for individualized attention. Campers also have the opportunity to work 1 on 1 with counselors in breakout rooms. -

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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 Speech (AM) and Debate (PM) sessions for a full-day, week-long comprehensive experience.

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