Meet The Debate Group | Passionate high school students dedicated to improving debate for underprivileged students

We had the good fortune of connecting with The Debate Group N/A and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Debate Group, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for our business was motivated by an endemic problem that we noticed taking place in the debate circuit. Debate is a competition that is often elitist in nature: under-resourced schools cannot hope to compete against wealthier institutions that can afford to travel across the nation and hire a plethora of experienced coaches for their students. As a result, these small schools are consistently excluded from the spotlight.

Coming from schools with underfunded debate programs, we wanted to help remedy that problem so that the activity that has given us so much joy these past 4 years remains accessible and equitable for everyone. Given that we had connections on the circuit, we recognized that we could leverage that in order to provide free mentorship to novice debaters who don’t have the resources to get better at the activity by themselves. That simple concept, designed to replicate the system that big speech camps across the nation follow, led to the creation of the Debate Group.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The most important lesson in the growth of our community was the importance of networking. To grow our organization, we had to extensively recruit nationally renowned coaches, which was made significantly easier because of our prior debate connections. It certainly wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t a linear success either. We had our bumps along the way, but by remaining consistent and keeping our mission in mind, we were ultimately able to succeed. The most important lessons we’ve learned are to always be kind and keep persevering. It’s important to stay dedicated, but also make smart decisions and utilize help when necessary.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Favorite museum: Perot Museum of Nature and Science. There’s a lot of really interesting exhibitions, our favorite being a display where you can race a virtual cheetah. Favorite amusement park: Six Flags. It’s a classic, and it’s huge. There’s a ton of fun rides and thrillers here. Favorite restaurant: Duff’s Famous Wings. We’re big on wings, and our favorite stop is Duff’s. Favorite fun stop: Top Golf. Tickets are expensive, but it’s fun to hang out and play some golf with friends.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our mentors wholeheartedly deserve this shoutout. The entire purpose of our organization is to provide free coaching to students, and that would not be possible without these like-minded individuals who were willing to give up their time and help our organization fulfill our goal of bettering communities. We are so grateful to have an experienced and dedicated mentor team, and hopefully our efforts will continue to grow in the future.

Website: https://www.thedebategroup.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedebategroup/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-debate-group/about/

Image Credits
TDG-Pic-1: Some of our TDG founders meet up with mentees at a debate tournament TDG-Pic-2: TDG Co-Founder gives lecture to students TDG-Pic-3: TDG Mentees at a debate tournament TDG-Pic-4: TDG Co-Founder (far left) and TDG mentors at debate summer camp