Would you really send your teen/preteen to a weeklong speech camp to become more adept at … arguing?
Parents of a dozen Clark County youths did just that.
Which made this week’s inaugural Union High School Speech and Debate summer camp a rousing success, participants said.
Led by Union speech coach Adam Aguilera, current team members and one special guest, middle- and high school students got valuable tips and experience in making their point, in public.
In an effective, reasonable manner, that is.
“All of us had fun. The kids who were there, you can tell,” said Ashley Kuhn, 15, a Union High sophomore eager for her second year of speech and debate.
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From several Shahala Middle School students who already compete in speech contests, to a pair of incoming Union High freshman students poised to join the squad this year, Aguilera and his charges found a group eager to improve in all aspects.
To learn more about Union High School’s speech and debate program, visit
Starting on Monday, campers were taught different categories of competitive debate, or forensics. They can include impromptu, or extemporaneous, speech; interpreting scripts (with humorous or dramatic voices or inflection); interpretive reading; Lincoln-Douglas debate; public forum; original oratory; or student congress.
With a few games and icebreakers to get comfortable, campers were off and running.
“They were great. They were very mature,” said Union team co-captain Adam Kinkley, also 15 and a sophomore. The younger students impressed as they wrote arguments for or against public school uniforms, then debated war in Afghanistan, health care and other mature topics, he said.
“They really grew a lot, and got better at writing speeches,” Kinkley said. From the basic, five-paragraph essay formula taught in standard classroom curriculum today, students were asked to elaborate — but also stay efficient.
“We really wanted to show them the main differences between something you’d hand in to a teacher, and speech,” Kinkley said. To wit: “You want to get your point across quickly, and keep your audience’s attention” with humor, wit or emotion, he explained.
Besides perhaps luring new teammates, Union veterans said the lessons reinforced their own skills. “Explaining the events to the kids gave me a whole new understanding,” Kinkley said.
Aguilera, entering his second year as Union coach and an online language arts instructor by day, said the camp topped expectations. It was team members’ idea “to reach out to young people in our community, to show them their passion about speech and debate,” he said. He proudly watched them challenge and inspire participants, he said.
The final turnout of 12 campers, who each paid $99, was evidence of unmet demand in Southwest Washington, he said. Organizers knew of no similar camp — open to anyone entering grades 6 through 12 — in Vancouver-Portland, they said. There was one student from Ridgefield, and another who attends private school in Portland.
To learn more about Union High School's speech and debate program, visit
“We’re definitely looking forward to the next year, and camp,” Aguilera said.
Great debaters earn, pay respect
Some guests were newcomers, others had experience; many have parents who had competed in speech, he said. All share the desire to become better public speakers, he said.
“So, when they go into the real world, they’re better able to ask those questions” and to share their knowledge,” Aguilera said. “(That’s) what CEOs are looking for, young minds who are going to be great communicators.”
The current Union squad, which began last year with one member but wound up earning its share of trophies and titles, reflects many motives. Some members, such as Kinkley, have backgrounds in drama. Ashley Kuhn has long intended to become a lawyer, “so speech has been at the top of her list,” said her mother, Cindy Kuhn.
Aguilera, who competed in four years of speech at his Modesto, Calif., high school, remembers how “it really helped me come out of my shell.”
Campers also met a professional deliberator. State Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, told how he uses speech skills in Washington Legislature floor debate, in caucus discussion and in campaigning. He was the first politician some campers had met, and opened eyes, said team booster Holly Forrest, whose son and daughter are active in speech.
Pridemore said a good orator doesn’t “overtly disagree with others (rivals), because it shuts them down” mentally, Forrest said. “They don’t want to hear what you have to say.” Instead, he or she plows common ground — underscores areas of agreement — and then suggests movement toward his-her point of view, she said.
That jibes well with speech competitors’ code of respect not only for opponents, but also competing viewpoints, Forrest said.
To underscore the point, campers celebrated Friday with a pizza party, conducted final debates and watched the 2007 movie “The Great Debaters,” starring Denzel Washington, which recounts the rise to debate excellence of a team from a small, black Texas college.
Forrest’s son, Andrew, 16, will return to Union’s speech squad this fall as a sophomore. Kate, a Shahala sixth-grader, could well follow suit. And how does a parent respond to skilled debaters at home? she was asked.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” she said, laughing.
“But I’m very pleased, because it helps their critical thinking. They may argue, but at least they’re doing it with logic,” Forrest said.
