In Public Forum Debate, there’s a growing problem with no solution: accessibility. Over the years, as PF has gotten more progressive and “tech,” the skills needed to do well on the circuit have increased as well. In order to meet this increased demand, expensive private coaches have proliferated, leaving a large number of students at the bottom end of a widening skill gap. In The Debate Group, we hope to offer free but extremely qualified mentors to help younger students improve their debating. Specifically, high school upperclassmen will be assigned to a couple of underclassmen or middle school debaters based on their needs and access to resources. These will not be full-time coaches, but rather mentors or instructors that will listen to redoes, help direct prep, engage in practice rounds, and be available for a question here and there (1-3 hr/week time commitment). We aim to broaden our scopes in the near future, hosting organization-wide tournaments, lectures, argument breakdowns, as well as expanding to other forms of debate such as Lincoln Douglas. Please contact us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, and we hope to see your name on the signup forms below.