October 16, 2025
The Student-Led Side of PDA: Meet Our Budding Leaders
Written by Katherine Xue As the school year begins again, so are classes and the debate season at Potomac Debate Academy! We hope that all students and parents are having a good start to the year, whether it’s competing at tournaments (shout out those who’ve done tournaments on the Septober topic already) or meeting their…
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October 8, 2025
Discovering Your Own Debate Style
Written by Mahek Acharya Every successful debater eventually realizes a fundamental truth: there’s no single “right” way to debate. The most effective debaters aren’t those who perfectly mimic their coaches or copy last year’s champions, but rather they’re the ones who’ve discovered and refined their own authentic style. Why Your Debate Style Matters Your debate…
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October 5, 2025
Finding the Right Speech Event for You
Written by Jason Stansell Sometimes, finding the right Speech event can be daunting since they are all a lot of fun! So, how do you choose? Well, the long answer is that you will have the opportunity to compete in all speech events if you so choose. However, for the short answer, we’ve crafted a…
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October 2, 2025
Potomac Students Champion Season Opener
Written by Jason Stansell The National Speech and Debate Season Opener at University of Kentucky, also known as the University of Kentucky Season Opener, was a rousing success this year. Several Potomac Debate Academy teams competed online in Public Forum Debate in both the Public Forum Open and Middle School Public Forum Divisions, debating the…
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September 30, 2025
Nervousness: Relax or Don’t — Either way, it’s Going to be Fine
Written by Jason Stansell The first thing to remember about giving a speech is that nerves are to be expected and are absolutely normal. In fact, all other speakers there feel just as nervous, and likely so do/does the judge(s). Everyone handles those butterflies in the stomach differently. But the nerves are still there. You…
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