Targeted to middle and high school students, this camp is one of a kind in Martin County. Debate develops critical thinking, media literacy and communication skills essential to academic and professional success. 

Students attending Debate Camp will learn to analyze text, speak clearly and communicate effectively. They will identify and structure arguments, deliver speeches and refute opponents.  This program employs a “learning by doing” approach. Sessions will consist of short lectures followed by drills and exercises designed to expand upon and cement the day’s lessons.  Students will receive constructive feedback from a highly trained debate professional each day of camp and leave with a follow up assignment to enhance skills learned.

The AAA Debate Camp will be led by George Washington University Director of Debate, Paul S. Hayes. Paul is an honors graduate of both the New York University School of Law and the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  As a senior in college, Paul and his partner led UMKC to the 1994 National College Debate Championship by winning eight of the eleven tournaments they attended.  As a debate coach at Michigan State University, Paul led MSU to the 1995 National Debate Championship, and to a first round bid to the 1996 National Debate Tournament.  Prior to taking his current position at GW, Paul was an attorney at one of the top-ranked law firms in the world, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Paul's first project as director of the French Embassy Center of Excellence (Washington DC), and the first literary project of the revived GW Debate & Literary Society, was just picked up by PBS and will air on 100 affiliates across the nation in the period preceding the 71st anniversary of DDay. The project includes both professional and GW student-produced documentaries on the "final landing" of the veterans of the 29th division in Normandy, during which the veterans were accompanied by GW students and student veterans. Both documentaries will be premiered at GW on April 30.