SUMMER SPEECHES

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August 4, 2021

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Innovative and popular speech and debate camp grows participation year after year, looks to expand program even more next summer.

The eighth year of summer speech and debate wrapped up last Friday in the form of EDGEcamp Forensics, the fast-growing whirlwind with two days focused on debate and two days working on speech and interpretation performances, which culminated in a full congressional session on current events topics and final performances in categories such as original oratory, dramatic interp., sales, informative speaking, and humorous interp.

According to Dr. LeAnne Schmidt, camp coordinator and congressional debate coach, this annual week of summer camp is a partnership between NDP Speech and Debate and the Eastern Michigan University Forensics program, which leads the state in college-level competitions. 

"Students work directly with Patrick Seick, Eastern Michigan University's Director of Forensics, and Amy Johnson, who teaches prospective teachers in the area of speech and debate," Schmidt said. "EDGEcamp is a blend of information about forensics categories, the enhancement of speaking and presentation skills, as well as fun activities that truly make it a camp."

Lea Simjanovski, a rising sixth grader at Notre Dame who was one of the campers, said she loves learning new things and in such fun ways. "One example," she said, "is when we did the intro to a speech scavenger hunt outside.“

For Eric Davis, a rising freshman and third-year camper, he enjoyed developing skills in parliamentary procedure for debate, which sounds a little stuffy until you recognize that he was practicing his craft at the always popular "Who is the best superhero?" debate. 

Simjanovski said she can't wait until next summer's camp. 

“I will definitely do this camp again," she said. "That's because I would learn more and more and be able to use that knowledge for future speech and debate activities.” 

Helping out in his first year of mentoring at the camp was Mark Roberts, Notre Dame's vice president of advancement, who serves as assistant coach for the debate team during the school year.

Schmidt said the camp, which is open to 6th through 10th graders, is a melting pot of ages, personalities, skills and opinions. 

"Some campers, like Gavin Gaynor NDP'26, come with prior knowledge of forensics from elementary school," she said. "Others, like Caroline Powell NDP'26 and Tyler Leung NDP'26), became interested after successful stints at the 7th-grade Big Questions debates."

Schmidt said six of the camp participants were rising 9th graders from other local schools who were looking to get to know the campus a little better and make some new friends. 
Lea Simjanovski, who will be new to Notre Dame as a 6th grader this year, also made new friends. 

"It will be nice to see familiar faces in school that I’ve seen before in this camp," she said. "I met 7th, 8th and 9th graders, too!”

Schmidt added that she is pleased with the developments of the program. 

"Really, I couldn't be happier with how this has turned out," she said. "EDGEcamp, previously known as Speech and Debate Institute, has been increasing participation each summer. I thought we would see a lull last year because of COVID, but students were eager to get out and connect with others again. This year was even better. Next year we're considering the addition of a new level of advanced skill-building for active competitors and repeating campers. Who knows what awaits?"

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.