The Claremont Difference

• Learn from John Meany, Director of Forensics at Claremont McKenna College
Founder of the Middle School/High School Public Debate Program, Creator of the CHSSA Parliamentary Debate format, Sponsor of the first 3 intercollegiate championships in the British Parliamentary debate format, Author or co-author of 10 debate textbooks and a monograph series on professional communication, Director of the US World Schools Program and International High School Public Debate Program for 15 years, Coach of multiple national debate champions, Director of the Civics in Action high school leadership initiative, Sponsor of multiple academic conferences for secondary schools and colleges/universities, Director of more than 250 summer debate, speech, and professional communication sessions in the US and abroad

• Staff and judges/evaluators complete a certification program to work at Claremont Summer events, the only summer debate or communication enrichment program with this requirement. Certification ensures a knowledgeable staff, diligent lesson planning, and implementation of best practices.

• Innovative operations. The Claremont summer programs have led innovations for summer debate and communication workshops for more than 30 years, including more than 20 years of secondary school programs. Online sessions will include the research clinics, open forums, strategy board gaming, home study assignments, and practicum exercises that have been previously featured in on-campus programming.

• Best practices from other formats. The Claremont staff has experience in multiple secondary school debate formats, including PDP, policy, parliamentary (including several high school domestic models and APDA, NPDA, IPDA), Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, World Schools, British Parliamentary, All-Asian, Karl Popper, Civic Debate. in addition, the staff has substantial experience developing specialized professional communication training programs and events (workshops, conferences, public debates, policy lectures, cable television and podcast public affairs programs, advocacy seminars, etc.) for education, business, civic, social, and political groups.

• Value-added academic term programs. The Claremont Colleges Debate Union supplements its summer programs with conferences, workshops, curricular information, and leadership activities during the summer and academic year. These include a writing workshop presented by staff of Claremont McKenna College’s Center for Writing and Public Discourse, a leadership program – Civics in Action – a social and political advocacy project for schools and communities, international debate demonstrations and public debates (e.g., high school students invited to Panama to support debate development in English and Spanish), and academic conferences with competitive awards for top papers, panel presentations, and multimedia performances. Students receive periodic newsletters and public speaking/argumentation guides. The documents include speaking exercises and helpful information to improve their argumentation, negotiation, writing, and management skills.