
TM
Classic Debate Camp
Miami University, Ohio - July 12-20, 2025
Testimonials from 2019 Campers
CDC significantly improved my speaking and debating ability in such a short amount of time by showing me what was wrong, why it was wrong, and how to fix it.
- John Dragos
CDC humanizes people who have had huge success in debate and shows you that you can get there as well.
- Isaac Stiepleman
As somebody who attended this camp last year, I thought I had gotten all the training I could get. But attending a second year really opened my eyes to how much I was missing in my speeches and made me realize my potential for next season.
- Ria Narang
Though I was a total newbie to LD, CDC made everything super clear to me. I really enjoyed making new friends and learning new things from experienced debaters and coaches. Overall, I feel much more confident going into my first high school season.
- Eesha Talasila
I loved being able to form connections to other debaters throughout Ohio. I’m looking forward to this season where I will be able to see them!
- Sophia Wang
I felt more at home here in one week than the entire time I've been in school.
- Nicky Jordan
I say that this year was an incredible year because the counselors did a phenomenal job being approachable and really wanted to help you get better as a debater and as a human being. I would say that office hours really helped me become a better debater and thinker.
- Ananth Menon
The lectures on debate strategy and in round weighing were most helpful to me, because I gained a clearer picture of how to win rounds. I also enjoyed being able to interact and receive critiques from the instructors, who were all people I had tons of respect for.
- Alex Ye
I thought that the distribution of time in labs was extremely effective. The amount of drills, lectures, and practice rounds was perfect for me. I cannot quantify how much I learned. I especially enjoyed electives and office hours. While I wish we had more electives because they were extremely helpful and insightful, I thought office hours were amazing. I loved being able to have one on one coaching and I have immense gratitude towards the instructors. I am 100% sincere when I say that every minute of instruction was valuable. Nothing dragged on. Nothing was crammed. It was wonderfully executed.
- Esha Reddy
I enjoyed lab time the most because I got to do practice rounds and redo rebuttals. This really helped me to understand my arguments and my opponents arguments without having to do an extreme amount of prep.
- Sarah Grace Shurden
I enjoyed the learning and the friendships. I learned so much more about debate in one week than I did in my entire last season. I met so many amazing people who share my interests/views and discussed alternate views with people who didn’t. I made a lot of friendships that will last way past just this week.
- Tess Patton







More Testimonials from Campers
I think learning about philosophy and actually having access to coaches who sincerely wanted to help me were both by far the most valuable parts of camp and will surely help me a lot.
- Kennedy Hughes
I learned to see a round as less focused on arguments and more on strategy and speaking to the judge. I also benefited from learning better techniques for organizing my case and blocks. My instructors helped me see a path forward to the next level, as I feel I’ve been stagnant for a while since I didn't know what structural changes to make to improve my overall performance.
- Sam Jarvis
Electives were helpful to me. They helped me focus on what I really needed to improve on instead of just trying to improve broadly.
- Nehal Chigurupati
The most important piece the camp taught me about was the value of hard work. I strove to push myself hard during the week and I got a lot out of camp as a result. The leaders here enabled me to take my experiences and understand the reasons for some of my failures and push forward to amend them.
- Mourad Zeynalov
Classic Debate Camp is the perfect camp for a debater who is looking for a local camp, with coaches who really care about their students' success. It is a great opportunity to make new friends from all over the US and learn how to improve your skills as a debater.
- Grace Cousens
It was honestly an amazing experience. I wasn’t sure what to think when I came to the camp, but after a day it was clear that this camp was incredible and I really learned a lot while I was here.
- James Maruca
As someone who goes to a small school with a team that lacks funding, I found this camp to be VERY helpful in educating me and giving me an experience that will impact my career forever.
- Robert Duncan
I loved how my first elective made me a bunch of new friends.
- Jeremiah Goard
Coming in as a complete novice I will admit I was so intimidated by debate and everyone who participated in it. But the neverending encouragement and support from all of the great counselors at CDC really pushed me to become a better debater and may I also add a better person. I have learned SO much in this one short week and I am eternally grateful to this camp for making my introduction into the speech and debate world one so inviting and enjoyable.
- Rebecca Lin



Testimonials from 2019 Parents
This was my daughter’s first time away from home for such a duration of time and I expected her to call me frequently but she had a great time and was busy and happy enough that she hardly texted.
- Maria Charif
My daughter liked how the overall schedule was rigorous but balanced with community time. She appreciated having a good amount of down time to get to know other campers after working hard in lab. She felt the balance made camp helpful, comfortable, and fun. She also loved game night! As an out-of-state camper, our daughter made new friends easily and gained valuable new perspectives and strategies from knowledgeable, approachable coaches. CDC also made travel to and from camp easy and safe. We'd recommend CDC to any student thinking of traveling from another region.
- Kaesa Aanestad
My daughter had a wonderful learning experience two years in a row and is definitely entering debate season feeling prepared and confident!
- Carrie Snyder
My daughter REALLY liked the kids in her lab and her roommate. She really liked getting to know LD debaters in other districts. I think this year camp helped Jane feel like she is part of a community.
- Jeanine Gergel
My daughter truly enjoyed her experience this summer at CDC. She enjoyed engaging with the more experienced campers and looks forward to using the techniques learned. She’s excited to return and grow with the program next year and hopes to one day assist new campers with their experience at CDC.
- Anonymous




More Testimonials from Parents
CDC was a game changer for us. Took my daughter from feeling good to ready to take on anything that comes her way! Thank you for the opportunity and for your time in making my child better in debate and giving her new connections to help her grow as a person.
- Nicole Gleason Hughes
CDC was very helpful. It was the first true coaching my daughter has received since she started debate.
- Ayse Sahin
Camp was amazing - Ryan learned so much. Extremely helpful on many levels, we are very happy with the amount of progress made over camp, the level of professionalism, the caliber of coaches- all top rate.
- Sharon Brady
My son told me it was his most positive experience in a long time. His dad passed away last September. I’m grateful he had this wonderful opportunity and experience.
- Cindy Sdregas
My son's one-on-one exposure to recent HS grads who were nationally-ranked debaters has motivated him to work even harder this coming year.
- Peg Mayor
We were very grateful for this opportunity for Owen… the skills he's learned have absolutely translated into classroom success. He was the top Honors English and APUSH student last year, in part, I think, because of his debate experience and summer instruction from Mr. Lewis and Mr. Paik and their assembled experts.
- Melissa Stickney

