Programs
Congressional Debate
Built to raise a student's baseline and maximize their ceiling through weekly mock rounds, weekly courses, dedicated tournament support, and a philosophy built around arguments that matter.
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Most coaching makes you better for one tournament. Ours is built to make you a better debater, permanently, through four connected elements.
Weekly Mock Rounds
Blades sharpen blades. Every week students compete in mock rounds on a variety of topics. Immediately after, coaches break down what arguments were most salient, what worked and what didn’t, and give individual, speech-by-speech feedback.
Weekly Core Ideas Courses
Sessions built to sharpen students’ contextual knowledge and their model of the world, from U.S. foreign policy to macroeconomic indicators. A stronger, current world model means students walk into cross-examination with guideposts to build from, not scrambling for context. They’re ready to turn the block on their opponent.
Dedicated Tournament Support
Students can elect on-site coaching at tournaments, taking the higher baseline built all year and helping them perform as close to their ceiling as possible when it actually counts.
Arguments That Matter
Will your judge remember who you are tomorrow? We push students to make clear, distinctive arguments and stand behind their implications: identifying the assumptions underneath an argument, challenging them, and forcing the round to engage with the questions that actually decide it.
Weekly Schedule
Tuesdays
Core Ideas: structural Congress skills + content lectures
Thursdays
Mock Rounds: live rounds + speech-by-speech feedback
8 to 9pm ET, may run to 9:30pm depending on enrollment (a full mock round takes at least an hour). All classes are recorded for review.
Program Leadership
Makai Henry
Director, Congressional Debate Program
Makai Henry is the director of the Argument Institute's Congressional Debate program. For the 2026-27 season, he is joining American Heritage School in Plantation, Florida, and the Hawken School in Ohio as the Congressional Debate coach for both programs. In 2026, he served as the Congressional Debate curriculum director at Georgetown University's summer debate institute.
Henry is a graduate and former coach of Nova High School in Davie, Florida, the winningest program in the event's history, with more Tournament of Champions titles in Congressional Debate than any other school and more Harvard National Congress varsity champions than any other program. He previously coached Congressional Debate at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, where he coached a two-time Maryland district champion and helped lead the school to a district sweepstakes title. He has also worked extensively as a private coach.
Over the last three seasons, his students have earned more than 50 bids to the Tournament of Champions in Congressional Debate, including the 2026 NSDA National Champion in Senate, the 2026 NCFL National Champion, the 2025 Florida Blue Key Champion, and the inaugural Harvard JV champion, runner-up, and Leadership Bowl recipient. His students have reached finals and semifinals at major national tournaments and advanced to elimination rounds at UF Blue Key, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Sunvite, GMU, Durham, Florida State, Florida Novice State, Florida Middle School State, and UPenn.
A decorated competitor himself, Henry qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions, reached finals at the Florida State Tournament, Florida Blue Key, and the Cypress Bay Tradition, and graduated as one of the top 10 Congressional debaters in Florida. His academic background is in political science and international relations, with a focus on national security and Chinese area studies.
His coaching centers on legislative analysis, contextual knowledge, and identifying the central question on which a round actually turns. He believes competition forges debaters and that blade sharpens blade. Above all, he holds every student to one standard: Will your judge remember you tomorrow?
Our Staff
Get to know our coaches.
Makai Henry
BCPS School Board Candidate
Rhetoric, Round Strategy, International Relations
Read MoreMakai Henry
BCPS School Board Candidate
Rhetoric, Round Strategy, International Relations
Makai is the Congressional coach at Nova and a former coach at Walt Whitman. Over the past three seasons, his students have earned 50+ TOC bids, NSDA and NCFL national championships.. A two-time TOC qualifier himself, Henry emphasizes legislative analysis, contextual knowledge, and identifying the central question of each debate.
Sarah Rosaler
Read MoreSarah Rosaler
Sarah Rosaler is a 2026 graduate from Stoneman Douglas High School, where she participated in Congressional Debate for 7 years and was the congressional debate captain for 3 years. By her senior year Sarah had 10 career bids to the tournament of champions and made the semifinal rounds at the Harvard, Emory, and Yale. Sarah is now a freshman at the University of Alabama.
Jackie Correa
Georgetown
Read MoreJackie Correa
Georgetown
Jacqueline is a sophomore at Georgetown University studying Government and Environment & Sustainability. She currently competes on the GU Policy team and Mock Trial team. She debated at Western High School for 4 years in Congressional Debate, accumulating 13 TOC bids and earning the title as Florida State Champion in 2025. She has placed top 6 in several national final rounds including Yale, Emory, Blue Key, and Sunvite. She also reached semi-finals at NSDA Nationals 3 years in a row.
Adam Alcin
Read MoreAdam Alcin
Hello, my name is Adam Alcin! For seven years, I was a congressional debater in FL, I was ranked the best congressional debater in Florida according to the NSDA, went to the semis of the NSDA National Tournament in the Senate and won the University of Florida Blue Key tournament. I am currently a freshman at Howard University studying economics and political science.
Year-Long Program
August 2026 to June 2027
Save $150
- ✓Weekly mock rounds + weekly core ideas courses
- ✓24/7 Slack access
- ✓Dropbox prep access
- ✓Discounted 1-on-1 coaching ($50/hr)
Individual Sessions
10-session gift card. Flexible scheduling, no year-long commitment.
$1,000
10 sessions
FAQ
Common Questions
What is Congressional Debate?
Congressional Debate simulates a legislative session. Students research, write, and debate bills and resolutions, deliver floor speeches, cross-examine their peers, and are scored on argumentation presentation and parliamentary procedure.
What does a typical week look like?
Tuesdays focus on Core Ideas: structural Congress skills alongside content lectures on commonly debated subjects, split between presentation and hands-on activity. Thursdays are live mock rounds followed by coach feedback.
What’s the philosophy behind the program?
A lot of debate coaching amounts to "send me your speeches, we’ll take care of it." That can help you win one tournament, but it doesn’t make you a better debater, because your baseline never moves. We’re built around raising the baseline, which raises the ceiling.
Do you work with beginners?
Yes. We work with students at every level, from first-time competitors to students making major outrounds everywhere from TOC to NSDA Nationals.
Are sessions remote or in-person?
Weekly team classes are conducted online via Zoom. On-site coaching at tournaments is available for students who desire it.
How do I get started?
Schedule a free consultation and we will discuss your student's goals, experience level, and the right fit for them.
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