About Us
Check out our history, progress, vision, and how you can support.
Founded in 2017, NextGen Debate started with a vision: Free debate opportunities for everyone.
Anthony Schneider grew up in the Palm Springs area and began participating in debate as a 7th grader in 2006. He has since always played an active role in the debate community. While attending college for business he volunteered at debate events until founding a nonprofit debate program of his own called NextGen Debate. Anthony is known for his organizational agility, business acumen, and leading sub committees who develop and maintain valuable debate resources like the Golden Speaker Rubric.
Anthony founded NextGen Debate with a vision of bringing the national debate community closer together. Debate opportunities exist throughout the U.S. in small, individual communities, that all follow a (at least slightly) different format and set of rules. Even the larger national debate programs charge a hefty fee to schools and do not provide a clear set of rules for participants to easily learn and follow. Debate is long overdue for a modern overhaul.
NextGen Debate is the first debate company that provides all their resources, access to events, and all other debate opportunities completely free. We currently host debate events in the Palm Springs area but aspire to help pre-existing debate communities throughout the U.S. These pre-existing debate communities should switch away from paying for profit companies and instead, use NGD resources to enhance their participation experience while allocating extra finances to get more students involved. NGD is more inclusive, responsive, and maintains a high quality standard for everything they do.
NextGen Debate Initiatives
Camp
In 2022 NextGen Debate hosted its first camp retreat in the mountains of Crestline CA. This event was five days long, included meals, lodging, lots of camp activities and of course, debate! This camping experience would normally cost debaters upwards of $900 but thanks to local scholarships provided to us by the Anderson Grant foundation we were able to lower the overall cost down to $600. Eight low income debaters applied and received this experience completely free. A total value of $13,500.
Brain Nutrition
Debate events typically last over 6 hours and require participants to break and eat some food. Due to the large financial disparity of students in our program many are not able to bring meals or purchase food available to them at our events. Beginning in 2022 participants and volunteers receive free meals at our events so those essential nutrients get to the brain and no one is left unable to eat during these longer events. A total value of $9,000 has been allocated for this project.
Participation
As of 2023, we have reached 14 different schools in the Coachella Valley. Six of these schools use our curriculum to form a debate class for their students as an elective. We host a total of eight tournaments and one workshop annually for both our middle and high school leagues.
Vision
Debate communities are scarce and small making up less than 2% of all high schools in the United States. Often times these communities follow different rules making it difficult to collaborate with other debate leagues.
NextGen Debate is inclusive, communicative, professional, and organized. We established an online community so that members can connect with their peers across city, county, and state lines. Online courses allow users to learn at their own pace and quickly find content that is applicable to them. Judges, students, and coaches can now earn certificates that reflect their debate experience. A smooth registration process allows administrators to collect a list of contact information and have an accurate count of all their members. Members can also organize their own social groups, chat forums, and upload documents and photos to share with the whole team. Our new digital surveys give members the power to make critical program decisions. We hope these features open doors and knocks down any barriers separating us from each other.
We aspire to help form new debate leagues and invite existing ones to join our community. NextGen Debate wants to host more cross league events.
Support Us
There are multiple ways to support us in our mission. Our program runs off volunteers and we could use all the help we can get. We need volunteers to judge, teach, help setup/take down events, run the snack bar, create videos, manage social media, and so much more! If you have a special talent that can improve NextGen Debate please let us know! Start by registering yourself as a volunteer or reach out to us directly.
Additionally, we need financial support to purchase awards, food, debate supplies, and support our powerful online features. Your financial donations are tax deductible and we accept all forms of payment. Click below to donate online or mail us a check to “54170 Avenida Cortez, LQ, CA 92253.”
Help spread the word about this amazing program to other middle and high schools. Signing up is completely free!
For Any Inquiries:
Phone/Text: 760 544-2191
Email: hello@nextgendebate.org