2 Hand Students Start Online Debate Camp For Middle-School Kids

MADISON, CT —Two rising juniors at Daniel Hand High School, both members of the school’s debate team, also run the debate team at Polson Middle School. To get other students involved in debating, Charlie McIntyre and Max Wu created the Shoreline Debate Academy, where kids can argue, academically-speaking, on Zoom.

“Do you have a child that's a member of their school's debate team? Do you have a child that's looking for a new, rewarding activity to continue throughout middle school, high school and even college,” the two varsity debaters ask.

The free program run by McIntyre and Wu has the teens passing on their skills and knowledge through debate games, instruction about debate theory and practice debates. They say participants are “guaranteed to improve their debating skills, become more comfortable when speaking in public and make new friends.”

“Due to the unforeseen circumstances of the past few months, we’re worried that many of our middle school debaters haven’t been given the opportunity to debate,” the teens told Patch.

“Moreover, we also understand that many middle schoolers and their parents are looking for virtual summer activities and programs that run throughout the course of the summer," and that led them to create the online debate camp.

The Shoreline Debate Academy is open to any interested middle school debaters in Madison and other shoreline communities.

McIntyre says the camp will be a “perfect opportunity for students to stay productive in the summer, connect with each other, make new friends, improve their debating skills, and improve their public speaking abilities.”

The plan is to run the program for 6 to 8 weeks with a weekly Zoom meeting. The calls will be held every Wednesday between July 22nd and August 26th. They will start at 2:00 PM and will end at 3:30 PM.

To sign up, get more information and to obtain Zoom log-in details, parents may email chux2004@gmail.com noting the Shoreline Debate Academy in the subject line.