Middle School Scholars

About Middle School Scholars

The Claremont Summer program prepares middle school students entering 5th-8th grades in Fall 2025 for academic and career success with public speaking, argumentation, classroom discussion, multimedia (PowerPoint and Google Slides) presentation, and student club and organization leadership training. The sessions include non-fiction essay support from the staff of Claremont McKenna’s Center for Writing and Public Discourse. This program is modeled on the highly successful Debate Union initiatives for professional communication training and the high school Civics in Action leadership program. 

The June session provides comprehensive professional communication training. The Scholars program is scheduled to make it convenient for students to attend this session and a following debate session.

Summer programs are for in-residence and commuter students. Students entering 5th-8th grades (ages 10-14) in Fall 2025 are eligible to participate. The session is appropriate for new and experienced students. Each session includes small group instruction, elective classes, and practices with certified instructors.

The Curriculum

The summer program provides comprehensive leadership and professional communication training. The event prepares students for classroom discussions and presentations, interviews and internships, club/organization management, and team leadership. Students participating in the Scholar sessions receive small group instruction and elective course instruction (4-1 student-faculty ratio) in public speaking, argumentation, refutation, topic-based research, multimedia presentation, and essay writing. In addition, students participate in performances critiqued by program/institute certified evaluators and field professionals.

There is optional/elective time for student-directed learning, including elective courses and open forum sessions. Students have the opportunity to have their questions answered at the end of each day in open forum sessions. They can also get a jump-start on the following day’s activities, have extended theory and practice discussions, learn about advanced public speaking and other presentation methods.

The Topics

The speech and discussion topics will be released months in advance of attendance with a guide on academic preparation. Students are encouraged to prepare for sessions.

For reference, the topics for PREVIOUS years included the following:

• Abolish the Electoral College.

• The US should adopt a year of mandatory national service for all students attending college.

Additional Benefits

• The Debate Union supplements its summer programs with opportunities for exchange and learning from college staff from admissions, writing, and leadership programs. For example, students have the opportunity to learn about the college admission process in presentations by senior admissions officers.

• Students will be able to discuss opportunities for leadership training, school and community service projects, essay contests, and other Claremont educational outreach initiatives for middle school and high school students.