The high-schoolers dropped their bags on the floors of college dorm rooms. They would be here for the next three weeks, filling nondescript lobbies with a potent, not quite toxic combination of energy, exhaustion and passion.

They were now at debate camp.

Jayhawk Debate Institute hosted the clinic, which began mid-June and was attended by roughly 75 students, including two from MHS. (JDI also hosted a two-week-long camp at the same time.)

The first week of camp was a mesh of lectures at a nearby hall and events within “labs”- classes of 15 students who practiced, discussed, and researched debate together in dorm lobbies. Each lab was supervised and instructed by three KU students, professors or alumni who had achieved success in debate through teaching or competition.

“It’s kind of intimidating seeing all these people you’ve heard of, and now you’re learning from them,” junior Lily Colburn said. “But it’s also really cool because you are learning from people that know what they’re talking about and they’ve experienced it and they have a lot of knowledge to give to you.”

The following two weeks were spent almost completely in labs.

“You’d get up in the morning; go get breakfast; go back up; go to lab; go get lunch; go to lab; go get dinner; go to lab,” Colburn said. “By that time it was about 9:00 at night, and then we spent two hours working together in different groups and with other teams doing research and practicing; working on files.”  

“I was tired,’ junior Douglas Kim said. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but the camp was worth it.”

Why?

“I’m not just going to spend three weeks at a camp because it’s something I find slightly interesting,” Colburn said. “I’m going to spend three weeks of my time at a camp because it’s something I love and am passionate about and that I want to dedicate my time to because it’s worth it and it’s something that I enjoy, and that benefits me in many areas of life.”