Summer 2025 Middle and High School Competitive Debate Club Opportunities


middle school students 2

WHY COMPETITIVE DEBATE?

  • Inspire complex analysis and focused critical thinking.
  • Build confidence.
  • Improve communication skills.
  • Empower and teach young people to use their voice to make themselves heard.
  • Enhance academic experiences.

Middle School Competitive Debate Club

For debaters who have participated in one or more Middle School DebateAble Clubs or Camps. (If your child has other debate experience and would like to participate, please email us at info@debateablekids.com.)

High School Competitive Debate Clubs

For debaters who have participated in two or more middle school DebateAble Clubs or Camps. (If your child has other debate experience and would like to participate, please email us at info@debateablekids.com.) Debaters may participate in one or both sessions.

Middle School Competitive Debate Club, with Coach Tyler, Thursdays, May 15 - June 5, 4:30 - 6:00pm PT

Tyler Zabolio (he/him) has been in the world of competitive debate for over nine years. In high school, he competed at both the state and national levels in impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking, and public forum debate. The NSDA ranked him a top 50 impromptu speaker as well as a top 50 ranked public forum debater in Washington state his junior and senior years. Tyler was on the policy debate team at Gonzaga University for 4 years and got to travel all around the country debating! He recently graduated, majoring in Business Administration with a focus in Public Law and Policy. Tyler will be a 1L at University of Washington School of Law in the fall of 2025. He has four years of debate coaching experience and loves to work with kids. In his lessons, students will work on critically engaging with arguments to reach the deepest levels of understanding.


High School Competitive Debate Club, with Coach Griffin
Saturdays, June 21 & June 28, 9:30am - 12:30pm PT

AND/OR

Saturdays, July 12 & July 19, 9:30am - 12:30pm PT

Griffin Hehmeyer (he/him) is a student at the University of Washington with over six years of debate experience, including one previous year working with DebateAble. He was ranked top five in the state for three separate events after winning dozens of Lincoln-Douglas (LD), Impromtu, and Extemporaneous tournaments throughout high-school, qualifying for nationals three times in both LD and Extemporaneous. Since graduating, Griffin has made it a priority to stay connected with debate, volunteering as an assistant coach for his local high-school. In his freshman year he founded and has since been leading UW’s only standing debate team. Acting now as both a coach and competitor, he has guided several students to 1st-place finishes as well as earning some himself.  Whether teaching or competing, Griffin emphasizes community engagement, analytical and logical thinking, as well as taking risks. He hopes to build a strong next generation of eager and intelligent debaters.