February 23, 2026
How to Pick the Right In-Person Tournament to Attend
Written by Sherry Lin Hi PDA Fam! It’s Student Coach Sherry again, and this week I wanted to talk about something that can feel tricky starting out, but is super important in your debate journey: choosing what in-person tournaments to attend. Once you start debating regularly, you’ll notice that there are often multiple tournament options…
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February 21, 2026
How “A Square is a Rectangle, but a Rectangle is not a Square” also applies to you as a Competitor
Written by Jason Stansell I’m certain that many of you are confused as to why I brought in that geometry/shape adage in my title. However, here I’m using it as a metaphor, because honestly, it’s the most apt expression for what I am about to talk about. Throughout your lessons for Speech and Debate, you’re…
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February 21, 2026
I Wish Someone Told Me This Before My First Debate
Written by Mahek Acharya Walking into your first debate tournament feels like stepping onto another planet. Everyone seems to know exactly what they’re doing, throwing around terms you’ve never heard, typing or scribing faster than you thought humanly possible, and speaking with such confidence. However, losing is part of the learning process. You don’t show…
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February 21, 2026
Student Leader Feature: Student Coach Grace Li
Written by Katherine Xue We’re here celebrating another member of our student leadership. Today, it’s Grace Li, one of our student coaches! Like many of our student coaches and captains, she’s been debating with Potomac since elementary school and started competing on the national circuit in seventh grade. She’s now a senior at Richard Montgomery…
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February 9, 2026
The Life Skills Debate Gave Me That School Never Did
Written by Mahek Acharya Students spend years in classrooms learning the Pythagorean theorem, memorizing historical dates, and dissecting sentences for grammar errors. But a high school debate team allows students to not just learn about life, but for it. School taught me what to think. Debate taught me how to think. The Art of Thinking…
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