Our goals are simple.
Provide an environment where every high school student in Florida and surrounding areas has the opportunity to participate in competitive high school debate and public speaking.
The Central Florida Debate Initiative first implemented programs in Central Florida high schools in the 2013-2014 school year. Since then, the organization has evolved into the Florida Debate Initiative in order to serve as an advocate for the development and support for speech and debate programs throughout the state. We believe that the benefits of speech and debate should be accessible to all students in our state's public, private, public charter schools and in the home school environment.
Why Debate?
Providing affordable academic competition opportunities to all.
The Florida Debate Initiative assists schools without existing programs to develop speech and debate, supports schools with existing programs, and most importantly fosters civic engagement through participation in forensics. We achieve these goals by:
MAINTAINING
a Florida-centric civics focus by emphasizing local issues in debate and speech.CREATING
and setting a minimum standard for competition, coaching and judging that existing leagues can partner with to benefit existing competitors.CONDUCTING
summer camps and educational modules to enhance the quality of competitionSERVING
as the parent organization to newly formed regional leagues around Florida, granting students from Key West to Pensacola access to speech and debate tournaments.
as the educational support organization tasked with educating coaches and training judges to ensure students receive optimal feedback and performance critiques