High School Outreach / Summer Institute
The University of Richmond Debate Team offers an intense advocacy program unlike any other in the country. The team believes in prioritizing education and is dedicated to providing students with an optimum opportunity to actualize their knowledge of, and passion for, debate by bringing them together with nationally recognized debate instructors in an intimate, small group-learning environment.
Learning the skills of policy debate means learning how to advocate arguments. Speech and debate are not only indispensable to critical thinking but central to public policy and public discourse. Beginning before Plato and Aristotle and continuing through the deliberations of the present day, debate is a communicative process that teaches ethical citizenship and a radically participatory democracy. Being able to conduct research and express an argument are essential parts of one's progress as an individual.
The University of Richmond National Debate Institute
In both policy debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate, our debate workshop is designed for high school students with no debate experience as well as for high school debaters seeking a state or national championship (and everyone in-between). Students attending the University of Richmond National Debate Institute (URNDI), an intense research and debate workshop, work with two Professors of Rhetoric and Communication Studies (both national champion debaters), expert faculty from outside Richmond, and members of the nationally competitive Richmond Debate Team. The URNDI has two Directors. Dr. Kevin Kuswa directs the Richmond Debate Team and has been teaching debate for almost twenty years. He is joined by Professor Kelly Congdon in his fourth year at the University who has coached many policy debate programs, including at Georgetown High School and the University of Pittsburgh.
High school students thinking about URNDI can read evaluations of the workshop and see what students from the past two summers thought of the experience. Students can attend the workshop for one week, two weeks, or three weeks. Registration information and other details are located on the navigation bar to the left.
High school students attending URNDI can learn more about Richmond's debate program via the program's fact sheet. For specific information about attending the University of Richmond, students should contact the Office of Admissions. The team's blog is located here: Debate Blog.
