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Aaron Vinson
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Category:
Information
New debaters will learn essential speech and argumentation skills. Each week a new skill will be demonstrated and practiced. Students will be exposed to different debate styles and formats. **no debate experience necessary.
$280 per eight-week session
ACEs Debate Club
Think fast, speak well.
Join our debate program for students in grades 5-8 who are interested in learning public speaking and argumentation through fun and interactive discussions, recorded videos, and group work.
Featured Programs
We recommend that all students start with Introduction to Debate. Already have debate experience, click here to see the program in your sequence.
Why debate?
Speak. Argue. Respond. Question. Have fun! Public speaking is the #1 fear in America but if students tackle it early, they’ll be experts in vital skills that will set them apart from their peers.
Learn critical skills
Debate enables students to learn critical thinking, teamwork, communication, organization, and advocacy. These skills help students effectuate change within themselves and their communities.
Understand context and problem-solve
Debating both sides helps students understand the context and controversies of an issue and how to best present their opinions. Debate creates fun problem-solving challenges for students to practice weighing the advantages and disadvantages to find the best solution.
Build confidence
Answering questions on the spot will instill confidence in students when they are participating in the classroom or workplace. Coming up with responses to opposing arguments teaches students how to anticipate and plan accordingly.
Meet our coaches
Aaron Vinson
Founder and head coach
Aaron has coached and taught high school debate for more than a decade as a head speech and debate coach. His teams have won state championships, national invitationals, and college scholarships, and are frequently ranked in the top 25 of the National Debate Coaches Association’s poll.
Azja Butler
Coach
Azja is a debater at the University of Kansas and an assistant high school debate coach. Azja was the national CEDA runner up in 2019, is a two time qualifier for the National Debate Tournament, and won three tournaments including Harvard, Texas, and Berkeley.
Ashton Smith
Coach
Ashton has a background in public policy and law from University of Michigan, and deep skills in public speaking. He coaches high school debate, has taught summer debate programs, and has represented teams at the Tournament of Champions. He was a competitive collegiate debater, ultimately earning the American Debate Association’s ‘Varsity Debater of the Year’ Award in 2020.
Meredith Falk
Coach
Meredith teaches 8th grade Spanish, coaches high school debate, and judges debate tournaments. Her background is in education and spanish from Northwestern, and taught university students in Mexico. As a student, she competed in local, state and national tournaments in Congressional Debate and progressed in Nationals.
Theo Noparstak
Coach
Theo is a policy debate coach at Northwestern University. He graduated from the University of Kentucky where he set a school record for the second-most wins at the National Debate Tournament. He started his debate career at Niles West high school in Skokie, Illinois where he helped start their policy debate program.
What people say about ACES
“This program has my daughter excited to have critical, thoughtful discussions and is so important to helping students understand the value in hearing both sides and supporting your argument with reasoning.”
Sarah
“Thank you for giving him this outlet to improve his debate skills. And as a parent, I'm happy for him to have someone else to debate once a week other than me.”
Tanya
He's usually pretty quiet in class and doesn't contribute as much as he could. It sounds like he's been speaking up and contributing during Debate. I think this program is helping him feel more comfortable speaking in front of others
Jason
My son has been in debate the previous two years and this year he seems to spark to it more. Perhaps it's the ... style, but from what I hear from him it's all about the teacher!
Kimberly
Thanks for a great experience so far! He is excited to log on each week; this Zoom is a pandemic positive.
Robin
She is enjoying the class so much. She loves debating, listening to her peers debate, and learning how to build arguments and articulate her thoughts.
Michelle
“My daughter takes a long time to formulate and express her thoughts. Debate is helping her to build confidence in speaking. She said it definitely helped her improve her performance on a couple of oral exams this semester.
