Xylum Debate Institute * July 12 - July 31, 2015 @ University of Michigan
Xylum Debate Institute is a premier high school camp for critical debate.
Our unique approach focuses on developing persuasive speaking and ethos alongside technical debate skills. Our students come from all over the country and a wide range of backgrounds and interests. Whether just starting out or preparing for senior year success, Xylum is an invaluable experience to see rapid improvement and gain the confidence necessary for success.
- Hex Larsen is a Trojan Debate Squad Scholar at the University of Southern California. In their first year of collegiate debate, Hex advanced to multiple elimination rounds at major national tournaments including octas of the UMKC and Fullerton tournaments. In high school, Hex received six bids to the Tournament of Champions and was the Top Speaker of the 2014 Berkeley tournament. Hex coaches a local high school in Los Angeles and strives to make debate a place of growth for everyone. Hex’s primary focus in debate and in their own advocacy forefronts queer/trans prison abolition and the caging and surveillance of bodies. They find this extremely relevant to the 2015-16 topic and cannot wait to brainstorm new forms of argumentation at the #XDI15 with '15 Xylumites. Their favorite part of debate is discovering new and creative negative strategies versus critical affirmatives. You can contact them at:
Edmund Zagorin - Edmund Zagorin is Debate Coach at University of Iowa's A. Craig Baird Debate Forum. While debating at the University of Michigan Edmund received a First Round bid and advanced to the Semifinals of the 2011 NDT, earning Michigan's Colburn Award for Debate Excellence in three consecutive years. Edmund has coached at the highest levels of college and high school debate, most recently Tournament of Champion Semifinalist teams at Stratford Academy (2013) and University Prep Academy (2014), including the 2014 TOC Top Speaker and 2014 NAUDL Champions. Contact: [email protected]
Joe Krakoff - Joe Krakoff is a current debater at the University of Michigan. Since debating at the Georgetown Day School, he has coached high school teams to the elimination rounds of every major high school tournament. As part of PROJECT MKULTRA, a Deleuzean experimentation with radical affirmation of notions of queerness, and also perhaps a performance art project, he has debated in the elims of every major college tournament. His scholarly and debate interests include: queer theory, post-Marxist theory, deconstructive theory, post-colonial theory, theory of language/signification, critical race theory, and affect theory, among others. Contact him at [email protected].
I’ve only begun to notice, but XDI has made me a much better debater. I’ve gotten a speaker award at the last three tournaments I’ve been to and a lot of it has to do with my ability to explain my arguments and use some ethos along with it.
— Ezra Louvis, debater at Stuyvesant HS, qualified for the Tournament of Champions after attending Xylum, now debates for Georgetown University
My experience at the XDI could not have been rivaled by any other camp. I expected to get better at k debate, and I did, but I also developed a better understanding of who I am as a debater and found a network of amazing and supportive people to count on throughout the year.
— Tessa Finley, debater at Denver School for the Arts, whose Xylum 1AC Experiment was published in Jackelope Magazine
The dérive was my favorite moment of Xylum because I felt a clear understanding of an argument and how it interacts with your everyday life.
— Jeffrey Horn, debater at Green Valley HS, qualified for TOC after attending Xylum Debate Institute
Looking back at the three weeks that I have spent at Xylum I have came to realize that debate is more than just argumentation, critical knowledge production, and research but debate is also an activity that shapes and molds you as an individual. When we set the competitive aspects aside debate has a life long impact on its participants. I will no longer view the world the same again.
-- Vernon Johnson, debater at Law Magnet, won two TOC bids after attending Xylum Debate Institute
Check back for more staff announcements as we may add additional faculty based on student enrollment.
Apply here: http://michigandebate.com/apps.php
Make sure to check “Xylum Debate Lab”!
