Are you an experienced, successful varsity debater looking for a "top lab"
experience? Welcome to the Zag Scholars Program at the Gonzaga Debate
Institute. The Zags Scholars Program is designed to bring together some of
the most intelligent, driven, committed, and dedicated debaters from across the
nation. We have established a strong tradition of success in
our Scholars Program. Zag Scholars have gone on to receive multiple TOC bids and win
late elimination debates and speaker awards at some of the most competitive tournaments in the nation
including The Glenbrooks, St. Marks, Greenhill, and many others. Zag Scholars
also have already experienced a lot of success in college including first round
bids, RR bids, and late elim appearances at numerous national tournaments
including the NDT and CEDA Nats.
The Scholars lab will combine a very intense research experience with a practical
curriculum of practice debates, redos, block writing, and other skills based
work. In addition to the GDI Lecture Series, Scholars will also receive
individualized lectures from a variety of GDI faculty. Your first
three weeks of the program will be heavily devoted to research, strategy and
argument development, and simply learning the
topic. Your final two weeks will be devoted to putting all of that into
practice.
Faculty: The Zag Scholars is directed by Jason Russell. Jason has been on the faculty of the GDI for 7 years
and directed the Scholars for the previous 4 years. He has
coached at Michigan State University, Gonzaga University, and most recently at
the University of Oklahoma where he is also a PhD candidate in Communication
Studies. Professor Russell is assisted by a faculty of highly qualified
college debaters with extensive experience both competing and judging. This
years scholars lab will be assisted by Eric Lanning (Michigan State), Leah Moczulski
(Gonzaga), and Brian Rubeia (Texas Dallas). All of these folks are accomplished
collegiate debaters and compete at the highest levels of CEDA/NDT.
Criteria: Should you apply? Scholars are juniors or seniors with extensive
varsity level experience. These students consistently clear to elimination
debates and represent the best in high school CX debate. If you think that
describes you, then please apply. However, there are some minimum criteria we
require:
1 - Student must be entering your Junior or Senior year of competition
2 - Student must have competed for at least two years in CX/Policy Debate
3 - Student must have cleared at a minimum of 1 TOC qualifying tournament the
previous semester.
A completed application should include:
1 - The Zag Scholars application form which can
be accessed here.
2 - A letter of recommendations. These may
either be pasted into the bottom of your application or sent separately to
gdistaff@gmail.com. An application is
not complete until we receive your letters of recommendation.
In some instances we might ask for additional
letters or a research sample, and perhaps even a video of you debating.
We will begin accepting applications for the
2010 Scholars Program on November 1st. You will either be
accepted, waitlisted, or rejected within 2 weeks of our receipt of your
application. Please
email the
application
to gdistaff@gmail.com
Jason Russell, Director, Zag Scholars
Glen Frappier, Director, GDI
