About Us
The Palo Alto "Paly" Speech & Debate Program (PASD) is one of the most successful teams in California, ranked #9 out of 241 high school programs in the state (top 4%) as of May 2023. Our membership includes 125+ students and a long line of accomplished, beloved coaches from top schools such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, UPenn, Harvard, and Yale. We offer Congressional Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, Interpretative Speech Events, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Original Oratory, Platform Speech Events, and Public Forum Debate. Our program is highly respected for its inclusive, supportive, and tightly-knit culture, and has been consistently recognized for excellent league citizenship, winning three District Awards in 2022. Additionally, we run the student-led Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp, an intensive introduction to speech & debate for middle school students, which sells out every season and has become a model program for many other camps.