“My mentor was absolutely incredible. He debated in a way that was really interesting to me and that I really wanted to learn more about, so it was a really good fit. More generally, he was very enthusiastic and available and was willing to adapt as much as possible to do exactly what I wanted to do. He was amazing and probably made my camp experience.”
At the start of camp, every student at VBI is assigned a faculty mentor based on their interests and goals. Students meet with their mentor every day to discuss their progress throughout camp. The mentor program provides continuous feedback and oversight of each student's personal curriculum.
Other camps provide mentors, if at all, only to the most experienced students or to some other subset of students. At VBI, every student has a mentor.
NSDA PF champion Ron Lubarski meets with his mentor team at VBI Chicago.
In addition to one-on-one meetings with their mentor, students also meet with their mentor as a group to debrief at the end of each day. Students who share the same mentor are, in many ways, a team throughout camp. Mentor teams are comprised of three or four students from different levels of experience, in order to simulate an actual team experience. The mentor is, in some respects, the students' coach throughout camp—not only helping each student directly, but also helping students to help each other. This facilitates peer learning and builds important skills that are often neglected at debate camp.