How would you rate the staff at IDA? Why? 

“On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate the staff at IDA a 10, simply because the teachers and coaches truly help myself or other students during class. They're extremely supportive, and always are there to assist me in my debate endeavors.”

“I would definitely give them full score, especially Dilys and Bryan. They are always so helpful and dedicated to teaching the students so many things in debate. My child admires and like them very much! This year Bryan helped them join many tournaments in debate. He even took up much of his private time to give students detailed guidance. That’s really dedicated and awesome!!”

“In my eyes, the coaches are undoubtedly the best part of Impact. You can tell that they do everything in their power to make your debate experiences as good as possible, whether it’s just the two hours of class every week or whether it includes extra practices and tournaments. The coaching they give you truly extends far beyond class hours. They always enthusiastically provide extra help, resources, and opportunities whenever you may need them. When you are preparing a case, the coaches always offer to look over your ideas and give feedback. If a tournament is coming up, the coaches will do extra practice with you to ensure you are as prepared as possible. After you go to a tournament, the coaches always talk through the rounds with you to help you figure out what your strengths and weaknesses were as well as how you could improve. The coaches are so willing to help, I have never received a single email from the IDA that didn’t end in some variation of “ask me any questions you have and don’t be afraid to reach out for more help and resources at any time.” You can tell that the coaches here care about you and try their best to understand the personal strengths and weaknesses of each student. They help identify goals and give you personalized practice opportunities and resources to help achieve them. From the way they willingly do so much more than just teach you once a week, you can tell they truly care about your success and want you to improve which is something that my fellow peers and I all honestly appreciate.”

How would you rate the group classes at IDA? Why? 

“On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate the group lessons at IDA a 10. It's extremely helpful when there are other students to do practice debates and the teachers engage with all students equally.”

“The group classes are great. We are very fortunately having Bryan as our daughter’s group classes’ coach. Bryan is not only a great coach who has always been inspiring the students to thrive, but he is also a very caring person who has always put students’ best interests as his priority. We sincerely appreciate his kind devotion that had a very positive impact on our child’s personal growth.”

“Group lessons at IDA are the only thing I look forward to every week. The classes are extremely informative and fun. One thing I love about these classes is that we learn such a wide variety of knowledge. I didn’t think learning about economics, politics, international relations and philosophy would be beneficial for debate, but I find that during tournaments, I am able to apply the information I learnt in class to the debate at hand, which makes my arguments a ton stronger. My favourite part of the class is practicing actual debates. We get to implement the knowledge and strategy we learn into an actual round. Then afterwards, you are not only able to get feedback from your own performances, but you can also watch other people and hear their feedback which I find helps me improve a lot. The learning environment at IDA is extremely fun, there’s no pressure at all. The teachers tell jokes all the time and everybody is always enjoying themselves.”

How has IDA helped you improve your debating? 

“IDA has improved my debating because the coaches at IDA give me valuable feedback and information/spec, which I can utilize to become better at debating! IDA also gives me many opportunities - tournaments and competitions that my public school would not be able to give me access to.” 

“Coming from a school that is not very competitive nor invested in debate, IDA is the sole reason behind my improvement and achievements. In addition to the excellent staff and very informative lessons, one of the biggest things IDA provided me was the opportunity to participate in tournaments that you wouldn’t get a chance to participate in just from debate club at school. Only debating under IDA was I finally able to participate in tournaments that weren’t local, had professional judging, and was in different styles. Those participation opportunities were some of the most fun, as well as the most informative experiences I have had and really helped me grow as a debater.  Besides that, IDA is so supportive of its debaters and their ideas. When there is extra debate work I want to do, my coaches always offer to look over it and give comments even though it’s outside of class. If my classmates and I see a tournament we want to participate in, we tell our coaches at IDA and they do everything in their power to get us the opportunity. The staff at IDA are very supportive of you and they always support you in whatever way you need, which really helps me improve and get a wide range of opportunities.”

How has the skills taught to you by IDA helped you outside of debate? 

“One of the important things in debate is to not lose your mentality after losing a few rounds, and to be able to keep pushing, grow, and learn. This statement is heavily echoed within IDA - I'm able to critically figure out why I may not be doing well and then growing and improving!”

“For me, the most important skill learning at IDA has taught me is the ability to take big issues and analyze them. Debate is all about being handed an imminent issue and being able to explore it from many points of view. Big topics like international relations and socio-political tensions no longer overwhelm me because debate has taught me how to break them down and think through it logically. Additionally, learning debate has also helped my communication in other places such as school. IDA has taught me how to more effectively communicate my point and make it sound convincing, which in turn makes you more confident in the things you say. On another note, being able to win all the arguments you get into is pretty awesome too!”

Overall, are you satisfied with your experience at IDA? Would you recommend it to others? 

“Yes, I am incredibly satisfied with my experience at IDA, and I would 100% recommend it to others, because the coaches are incredibly supportive and really help grow and make you better as a person and as a debater.”

“Absolutely, we are very satisfied with our experience at IDA. We would no doubt like to recommend it to other families and friends.” 

“Yes, I am quite satisfied with the experience at IDA for the teacher and community they lead. I would definitely give this team a strong recommendation.”

“Overall, IDA is truly and undoubtedly a great place and I would (and already have) recommended it to everyone that wants to learn debate. I am extremely proud to be a part of such a wonderful institution and openly gush about being in IDA whenever someone asks me where I learn to debate.”