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  • Debate 101
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Dr J.W. Patterson
    • Mr. Jim Flegle, Board Chairman
  • Scholarship Endowment
  • Fellows Program
    • The Fellows Program at The University of Michigan
    • 2020 Patterson Fellows
  • TOC50
    • "Tournament of Champions" History
    • The Julia Burke Award
    • Past Debate Winners
    • Past Policy Top Speakers
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Debate 101

2021 "TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS" SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

LET'S BUILD SOMETHING AMAZING TOGETHER

JOIN OUR MISSION

Who We Are

The JW Patterson Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to providing opportunities in the fields of speech, debate, and leadership to talented high school and college students who would otherwise be excluded due to financial need.

It is an avenue for those who acquired a world view of problem-solving through forensics, debate, and leadership to provide equal opportunity for future leaders.

  JWP Interview #2:
The "Tournament of Champions"!

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"Debate opens an intellectual awareness to students that forever changes their world view."

Dr. Patterson

What We Do

DONT ERASE MOM
SCHOLARS

The Patterson Scholarship Endowment

FELLOWS

The Patterson Fellows Program

Our Mission

Our mission is to promote the academic study of persuasion, debate, and public speaking, the major instruments for making decisions resolving differences in a free society.

To this end, the Foundation's primary goal is the enhancement of academic training in the practice of debate on both the intercollegiate and inter-school levels. In addition, the Foundation seeks to promote leadership training for both college and high school student leaders.

Whether policy debate takes you to the White
House, the Senate, the Supreme Court or the board room--the fact is that policy debate, and the skill sets you develop in policy debate, will take you places you otherwise would never be able to go.

Bill Smelko, Of Counsel,
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch
Board of Directors, JW Patterson Foundation

Our Goal

Our founder, Dr. J.W. Patterson, strongly believes in the contribution that training in public speaking plays in leadership roles and has devoted his entire career to the instruction of students from all across the country in the field of speech and debate.

He has received hundreds of testimonials over the years from former students who attest that the training they received in debate and public speaking both strengthened their leadership skills and helped better prepare them for their chosen professions.

Many of these individuals have cited their speech and debate experience as played a critical role in their success. 

The belief that the study of academic debate along with the application of argumentation and advocacy at debate tournaments is the best way to learn the skills of debate is central to its mission. 

We are committed to the philosophy that students best develop these skills by being challenged by a diverse group of advocates and evaluated and critiqued by a critic judge through participation in debate tournaments and other forensic competition.

Unfortunately, many institutions do not provide adequate resources, if any, for these opportunities.

It is our goal, therefore, to promote these skills and do our best to make them available to all students, regardless of income accessibility. 

"DEBATE 101"

Everything You Need To Know About Policy Debate: You Learned Here

By Bill Smelko (Redlands ’75)
Of Counsel, Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP

&

Will Smelko (U.C. Berkeley ’11),CEO & Co-Founder:
www.ora.organic

GET A COMPLIMENTARY COPY HERE

In The News

NDT WINNERS 2019
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PATTERSON FELLOWS
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS TRAVELS TO CHINA
MIDDLE SCHOOL TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
UK 2019 
NATIONAL DEBATE CHAMPIONS
LIFE-LONG BENEFITS OF DEBATE
12 WAYS DEBATE WILL HELP YOU THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
THE TASTE OF SUCCESS
BENEFITS OF HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE
The J.W. Patterson Foundation for Academic Excellence in Speech & Debate
2901 Richmond Road, Suite 140-303
Lexington, Kentucky 40509
312.525.9645
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