{"id":273,"date":"2026-03-03T15:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/?page_id=273"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:31:15","slug":"minnesota-debate-initiative","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/minnesota-debate-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Debate Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Minnesota Debate Initiative (June 28th-July 10th, 2026)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For more than a century, Macalester students have earned national titles across speech and debate, including back-to-back policy debate national championships and recent top finishes on the NDT\/CEDA circuit. As a highly ranked liberal arts college known for academic excellence, internationalism, and public service, Macalester provides the ideal home for a two-track summer program designed for middle and high school students (incoming 7-12th graders). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In collaboration with Debate Matters, we are offering a <strong>Competitive Debate Workshop <\/strong>(Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum to prepare debaters for their competitive debate careers) and a <strong>Argument &amp; Impact Workshop <\/strong>(non-competitive critical thinking, research &amp; media literacy, and presentation &amp; public speaking with students building a real world campaign for an issue they care about).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our inaugural summer workshop will be held <strong>June 28th-July 10th, 2026<\/strong>, with both residential and commuter options available (for students local to the Twin Cities). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Choose Your Track:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Competitive Track:<\/strong> For middle\/high school debaters planning to compete, focused on Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum strategies, case writing, and tournament preparation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Academic Track<\/strong>: For students seeking skills without competition, emphasizing critical thinking &amp; argumentation, research &amp; media literacy, and presentation &amp; public speaking. Built on Macalester&#8217;s tradition of national debate success and liberal arts excellence. Elite coaching from Debate Matters&#8217; experienced instructors, accessible to Minnesota students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/minnesotadebate.com\/register\"><strong>Register for the 2026 MDI here!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For questions about registration, please email: hello@debatematters.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--1024x756.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--1024x756.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--300x222.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--768x567.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--1536x1134.jpg 1536w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/352\/2026\/03\/Forensics-MN-Debate-Initiative--2048x1512.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Debate Initiative (June 28th-July 10th, 2026) For more than a century, Macalester students have earned national titles across speech and debate, including back-to-back policy debate national championships and recent top finishes on the NDT\/CEDA circuit. As a highly ranked liberal arts college known for academic excellence, internationalism, and public service, Macalester provides the [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":626,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-273","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}