Debate at the Center of Summer
September 22, 2025 | By Ranner Faugas & Sarah Mayper
Debate Camp
For two weeks, 85 students from the Boston area joined us at Suffolk University for our annual debate camp. For me, it’s the most exciting part of the season. Each year yields many wonders, big and small. And each year we’re reminded of the importance of proximity, of being on the ground, of community, and this year, specifically, of the power of positivity.
It was two weeks of chaos, two weeks of laughter, two weeks of frustration, two weeks of games; and two weeks of resisting a small but ever-vocal minority lobbying for the word of the day to be antidisestablishmentarianism. Yes, it’s a mouthful—and therein lies the joke, I think. And I only think, because each year at camp I’m quickly reminded of how old and far from cool I am, in subtle and direct ways: “Ranner, how was it fighting in WWII?”
Beyond those moments, camp is our answer to a need: giving students across Boston and the surrounding areas a place to sharpen their analytical, research, and critical-thinking skills in community. There are many camps in Boston. But at this juncture, the need for these skills—and for spaces like ours, dedicated to the long art of discourse and examining our beliefs—is more critical than ever. That is the need we aim to serve.
Alongside this need, there is also a trust we aim to honor. For two weeks, those 85 students, and their parents, chose us as the way they wanted to spend their time. Implicit in that choice is a belief that the experience will be valuable. We do not take that lightly. Each year we begin anew, asking how we can design a transformative, meaningful experience. We hope we did so this year.
Camp shapes us, too. It’s our laboratory—a place to pilot new activities and learn what truly engages students. This year’s focus on U.S. involvement in the Arctic and on the best ways to confront global warming revealed how deeply students can engage when the stakes feel real and urgent. We watched them advocate as senators at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in favor of the Green New Deal, debate policy proposals, and pepper guest speakers with questions. They also reminded us how effective they can be when they mobilize around a common cause by successfully advocating for Raising Cane’s for lunch.
More importantly, we witnessed the contagious power of positivity. One student, in particular, fundamentally changed the tenor of camp, bringing an unbridled sense of support and joy every single day. That spirit spread—first infecting the staff, and soon the students.
By the end of camp, there was a palpable change in our community circle. Students were longing—LONGING—to recognize one another, to surface the gifts and talents they saw in their peers. If nothing else had happened during those two weeks, that alone would have been enough to write home about.
Debate-Inspired Educator Institute
If you had been walking the halls of the Samia Center at Suffolk University on August 18th and 19th, you would have heard lively conversations, laughter, and some intense debating going on in different classrooms. You would have seen teachers, debate coaches, and Boston Debate League staff meeting one another and having discussions about how, in these challenging times, to “Meet the Moment” with their students and colleagues. Everyone involved demonstrated commitment to Boston Debate’s values: Power of Young People, Analytic Discourse, Diversity and Inclusion, Racial and Social Equity, and Joy In Learning in their work together and in their goals for the upcoming school year.
Teachers led workshops using content across all content areas and ages. From the beaks and claws of birds to John Steinbeck’s fiction to the history of mass incarceration in the US and of course, this years debate focus on the Arctic, What brought all the areas together was the use of Debate-Inspired Classrooms strategies to involve every student in building arguments, thinking critically about challenging content, and using their voices powerfully. Teachers had fun digging into content that was not their own area of expertise, and shared ideas with both the workshop leaders and one another. They listened intently to our Student Panel, in which young people spoke confidently about their experiences with debate-inspired learning in different contexts, bringing their own expertise to the group.
The Boston Debate League staff was inspired by these educators and students. The Institute provided energy and joy that we all needed as we begin the school year.
