Monday, June 20, 2005

Reminder about Mailing Address

I just wanted to remind you that the address where you should receive U.S. mail at the camp is:

Your Name
Miami Debate Institute
Bachelor Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056

Do not have mail sent to Reid Hall as neither you nor we will be able to receive it there.

Steve

What to Bring?

Several of you have asked for a list of what to bring to the camp. I asked Sarah Spring to come up with a list for that. But you should know that these items are all essentially optional - you can do with or without, it all depends on what you need to make you feel comfortable.

Here is her list:


Summer Clothes (t-shirt and shorts are pretty standard)

At least one light jacket or sweater for cool evenings

Athletic Clothes and Tennis Shoes (optional, for sports and other planned activities)

There are laundry facilities in the dorm, and we will have detergent available for a nominal fee in the camp office.

Toiletries (Deodorant, Shampoo, Conditioner, SOAP, etc)

A watch

Shower shoes (optional)

Sheets, a light blanket (All rooms will have AC) and a pillow

Towels (at least 1)

An Alarm Clock (or if your cell phone has an alarm this will work)

Bookbag/backpack

A notebook for lectures and lab notes

The Office will have all typical debate supplies available for Office Max (or the cheapest we can find) prices. We will not mark them up, so you can plan on buying them when you get here.

But if you want to bring your own, here is a list of things you might need:
Pens (black ink)
Scissors
Tape
Regular white typing paper
Paper for flowing
Folders or expanding folders
A tub (if you want to bring paper evidence back with you)

If you bring your computer it is important to make sure you bring an Ethernet cord and/or your wireless card. The campus generally has wireless available in all locations, but sometimes it is good to have a cord to plug in if the signal is weak in a certain location.

Unlike other camps the meals at Miami are very good. Miami has a top ranked meal service and you will not get bored or disgusted by the food, there will always be vegetarian and vegan options available.

Spending money is up to your discretion, some nights you may want to order pizza or subs or Chinese to the dorms or walk uptown for other food, but you will not need a large amount of money. Printing and copying in the library will also cost a small fee.

The Recreation center is open to guests all summer but it is $7/day or $26/week to get a guest pass, there is a pool in the Rec center if you would like to swim (then you would also need a bathing suit).


Thanks! to Sarah for her help.

Steve Mancuso

Airport and Bus Terminal Pick-Up

We have just about completed collecting the flight arrival information from you, there are about 25 of you arriving by plane or bus.

We will be providing shuttles from both the Cincinnati and Dayton airports to anyone who's flight is scheduled to arrive prior to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday; and to the Cincinnti Bus Terminal on Sunday afternoon.

When you depart your plane or bus go on to the Baggage Claim area. Look for someone holding a sign that either says "Miami Debate Institute" or your name.

If you arrive at the baggage claim area and you do not see anyone with a sign, collect your luggage and wait there. Don't go outside or anywhere else in the airport or bus terminal. If no one is there at that moment it just means we are helping someone else and will be with you shortly. There are a few times when several flights and buses are arriving simultanously.

Soon I will post a cell-phone number for you to call in the event there is a problem, such as your flight or bus being cancelled, or if you are waiting a long time and we have not found you. If your flight is simply late we will be keeping track of that so you don't need to call us in that case.

See you all Sunday.

Steve

Lab Assignments

Here are the teacher pairings for the Miami Debate Institute labs.

For the Red Hawk (3-week) Division, there will be two labs, each with 3 lab leaders:

Lab 1

Todd Lantz (Univ. of Iowa)
Ed Lee (Emory Univ)
Nicole Serrano (Lexington HS, MA)

Lab2

Nikhil Mirchandani (Harvard)
Sarah Spring (Miami)
Paul Strait (George Mason)


For the 5-week Division, there will be two labs, each with 2 lab leaders:

Lab 1

Sherry Hall (Harvard)
Chris Lundberg (Northwestern)

Lab 2

Kenda Cunningham (now at Georgetown Univ.)
Steve Mancuso (Miami)


We will not be releasing student lab assignments until your orientation session on Sunday evening.

Steve Mancuso

Evidence CD's - free for all

Everyone at the workshop, both the Red Hawk and Oxford Scholars divisions, will receive a complete set of evidence produced by all labs at the Miami Debate Institute on a CD that we will give you (or US-mail to you) at the end of the workshop. Your tuition payment covers this, so there will be no additional charge to you.

For the purposes of holding practice debates and the workshop torunament we will also provide one paper-copy per 2-person team.

Steve