The SWSDI Congressional Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking camps benefit from experienced and successful teachers, small lab group sizes, and a fun atmosphere. Last year, three SWSDI alumni reached semifinals of Congress at the NFL National Tournament.

To take advantage of the commonalities of these two events, the Extemp and Congress groups will combine for lessons such as research methods and speaking drills and separate for event-specific instruction.

Examples of topics in the Extemp and Congress curricula include:

• Presentation and etiquette
• Argumentation and claim-warrant-impact structure
• Writing bills, resolutions, and authorships
• Structure of an extemp speech: Extemp in 39 Simple Steps
• Speaking drills and activities
• Research
• Parliamentary procedure
• Current events
• Economics
• World leaders and governments
• Cross-x: asking and answering
• Being the Presiding Officer
• Competing under different scoring systems