Commitment
We are thoroughly committed to creating high-quality, competitive, and dedicated educational opportunities for our students. We're not-for-profit, which is an expression of our core values.

Friends, I’m deeply saddened to write this. Unfortunately, due in part to a lack of interest, and logistical difficulties, we have had to make the difficult choice to cancel the Southwest Speech and Debate Institute for 2026. For 17 years, SWSDI has provided a low cost, high quality speech and debate summer program for students from Arizona, around the country, and even around the world. Our original mission of providing a great camp in a way that was accessible and affordable has always been a cornerstone of what we do.
Sadly, with many nearby school districts switching to earlier start dates, increasing costs for services, and a resulting severe hit to enrollment numbers, we are simply no longer able to offer this program to the community. We are heartbroken to have to cancel this year’s institute. Perhaps it will give us a chance to re-group and find other means by which we can continue to serve the forensics community that we love so much. We are grateful to all of our students and facilitators over the past 17 years for helping make this camp something special to be proud of. We are so sorry that it has to end like this. Perhaps we will be able to reconcile some of these difficulties in future years. In the meantime, thank you for your interest, and we wish you all the success going forward!
-The SWSDI Administrators
Southwest Speech and Debate Institute
c/o Adam Symonds
Hugh Downs School of Human Communications
Arizona State University
PO Box 871205
Tempe, AZ 85287-1205
[email protected]
If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to send us an email using our email address printed to the left, or the contact form on the right. We will get back to you as soon as possible.