Stanford National Forensic Institute

There is a fine line between following the pack and leading it.  The purpose of the Sophomore Scholars Lab is to cultivate the next generation of debaters who will chart their own course through the activity.  There are endless camps that will teach you how to read blocks that someone else handed you.  There are any numbers of places that you can learn how to sound like somebody else.  Judy Butler and jon sharp’s lab experience is unlike any other.  In this unique setting, you will acquire the skills necessary to develop your own argumentative vision, to master the tactics and strategy that distinguish the talented amateur from the innovation leader, to work without a net.  To achieve these ends, we will pursue a curriculum along parallel tracks: a deep investigating the contours of the 2012-13 topic alongside the continual refinement of conventional debate practices.  In combination, we will put these discussions to the test with a series of intensive practice debates. 

Ask your friends.  Ask your coaches.  Ask the debaters that you consider your role models (and the ones you desire most to defeat).  They will tell you that Judy and jon are as good as it gets. Then they will wish out loud that they could come and be in this lab.  There are lots of places that you can go this summer to be trained to parrot what others tell you to say.  Come join the SNFI Sophomore Scholars Lab and learn how to call your own shots.

The 2012 SNFI Sophomore Scholars offers your student the total debate experience:

• First Class Instruction - Judy and jon have a combined 53 years of institute teaching experience.  In addition both have held administrative roles throughout their illustrious careers at some of the finest institutes in the country, including Emory, Northwester, Georgetown, Bates, Kentucky, and Stanford.

• Student driven argument production from literature to round-ready blocks; We force a strong focus on the process of argument construction, rather than handing students prepared arguments ahead of time.

• Developing analytical and critical perspectives on argumentation; acquiring the skill and knowledge that allows and encourages independent thought and argumentation

• Building the confidence and speaking skills that distinguish champions from debaters; Sophomore Scholars program alumni have gone onto become champions or finalists at nearly every major national invitational, have been awarded top speaker honors at a number of the nations most prestigious tournaments (including the TOC), and have gone on to have some of the most successful careers in college, including being crowned Copeland award winners and NDT champions.