Free · High School

Congressional Debate

What is Congressional Debate?

Congressional Debate is an event where students debate legislation in a group setting as if they were members of the United States legislature.

Congressional Debate bridges the presentation and pathos skills learned in speech events and the research and argumentation skills learned in traditional debate events. Students gain an understanding of a wide variety of the most prescient issues facing the United States and the world.

Students who participate in Congressional Debate become more knowledgeable of real world issues and develop the ability to opine on a broad variety of issues, making themselves more aware members of society as they mature. While competing at local and national tournaments, students in Congressional Debate are uniquely positioned to meet other students from diverse backgrounds due to the inherently social nature of the event.

Free Group Coaching

Key Features

  • ~3 weekly group coaching sessions with different members of our elite coaching team
  • One-hour group coaching sessions will generally occur between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM PT on weekdays
  • Sessions rotate in format among mock rounds, topic lectures, skill lectures, office hours, and more
  • Cost: It's Free! To promote access to high quality coaching, we've made Ascend Academy Group Coaching totally free!

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Ascend Academy Overview

Learn more about Ascend Academy Group Coaching and how to make the most of it.

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Best Practices

Review our guidance on how to best leverage Ascend Academy to grow as a debater.

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Community Guidelines

All participants must abide by our community guidelines that seek to ensure a safe learning experience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Ascend Speech & Debate is the parent company of Ascend Academy and Sandel Academy, and offers summer programs such as Ascend California, Ascend Florida, and Ascend Online. We uniquely provide our students access to year-round coaching in which students learn from many of the same coaches they meet at summer camp.

Ascend Academy is a free school year coaching program built for all Congressional Debate students. Through multiple weekly group coaching sessions, Ascend Academy students engage with a diverse array of coaches.

Sandel Academy is an exclusive school year coaching squad intended for students competing at the highest levels of the activity and has a limited number of available seats.

Unsure which is better for you? Schedule a call to help you decide!

Nope! Ascend Academy allows you to join as many or as few sessions as you'd like. If there's ever a session you can't attend due to a schedule conflict, every Ascend Academy session is recorded!

Ascend Academy sessions will typically be one-hour group coaching sessions that generally occur between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM PT on weekdays.

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