February 6, 2026
It’s Not the World Against You, it’s You Stepping into the World
Written By Jason Stansell You’re a new competitor in Speech and Debate. Everyone around you seems to know far more than you. It’s intimidating, and they seem to expect so much from you that you don’t know how to do. You begin getting more and more nervous, palms sweaty, everyone seems to be judging you,…
Read More
February 3, 2026
Student Leader Feature: Student Captain Veer Parmar
Written By Katherine Xue Hello everyone! We’re excited to bring you another feature from one of our student leaders – our way of spotlighting the incredible members of our Potomac Debate community! This time, it’s Veer Parmar, who is a Student Captain for Potomac and a longtime debater, having been with Potomac for over four…
Read More
February 3, 2026
How Debate Can Help You in College and Beyond
Written by: Mahek Acharya When most people think about debate, they picture high school students standing behind podiums, rapidly firing off arguments and evidence. But honestly? The skills you develop through debate extend far beyond the competition circuit as they become invaluable assets that shape your success in college and throughout your professional life. Critical…
Read More
February 3, 2026
How to Do Cuttings for Speech Events — A General Example
Written By Jason Stansell Cuttings for Speech Events is essentially taking a piece you’ve selected to perform and narrowing it down to the right scene or scenes. Typically, it falls more into the Interpretation side of things; however, these skills can also serve a competitor in Informative and Limited Prep events as well. Usually, though…
Read More
January 20, 2026
Debate Resources for Beginners
By Sherry Lin Hi PDA fam, it’s Student Coach Sherry again! This week, I’m diving into something that I get asked all the time: what resources should beginners actually use to improve their Public Forum debate performance? If you’ve ever typed “how to get better at debate” into Google, you’ve probably already encountered a problem:…
Read More