George Mason’s summer forensics camp created a pathway for this rising sophomore

Samuel Dalachinsky could have attended college tuition-free in Florida. But his experience at the George Mason Institute of Forensics in the summer of 2022, before his senior year of high school, convinced him to look at George Mason University. 

“[The summer institute] definitely helped build a bridge to transition from high school into college for me, so I had a lot of hope in the university,” he said. 

For 20 years, the Institute of Forensics has been helping high school students from around the United States practice and improve their speech and presentation skills to become tournament ready. George Mason has one of the top forensics teams in the country and regularly lands in the top five nationally. This is year they placed second out of almost 60 schools at the American Forensics Association Tournament.

The summer institute also brings awareness about the university’s forensics program to potential future students as about 20% of high school students who attend this camp subsequently attend George Mason.

“The camp was such an important experience to me. It let me find this way to radically embrace my identity,” he said.

George Mason’s reputation for inclusiveness in the LGBTQ+ space was supported by Dalanchinsky’s experience at the summer institute. 

“I came to camp with the intention of writing an angry piece about how I was feeling, and they showed me all of these beautiful poems written by trans people. It made me reevaluate the way I was thinking about things,” said Dalanchinsky, who is an Honors College student.

College of Humanities and Social Sciences faculty members and forensic team coaches Dawn Lowry and Tyler Watkins, who is also a George Mason alum, mentored Dalanchinsky while he was at the camp.

“Dawn really uplifts me and gives me so much confidence,” said the psychology major. “She had known me for about a week and said that she already knew she wanted me on the [George Mason] team.”

Dalanchinsky’s family had invested in Florida’s Bright Future Scholars program, which would have guaranteed him free in-state tuition, he said. But the forensics team coaches helped him find scholarship opportunities that made it possible for him to attend George Mason, as well as offering him financial aid.

“The coaches definitely helped me out a lot with the scholarship application process,” said Dalanchinsky.

Dalanchinsky, who wants to combine his major in psychology with social justice topics, specifically LGBTQ+ rights, has found the routines and practices taught at the institute helpful in preparing speeches. Dalanchinsky uses research topics and information from his classes at George Mason to write his speeches, which allows him to practice the application of psychology to the LGBTQ+ community, which he hopes to one day do professionally, he said.

“George Mason is very open-minded when it comes to picking your own topics of research and speech,” said Dalanchinsky. “Speech has not only given me confidence with public speaking or communicating with others in general, but also a lot of research abilities, which I think is very important.”

Dalachinsky appreciates the coaching he’s received since joining the George Mason team. “The coaches are very quick to tell you if you come off as a little too quiet, and they get it out of us really quickly,” he said. “They’ve also helped me with networking, and I've gotten to meet some really interesting people throughout the speech circuit.”

Dalachinsky is considering graduate school at George Mason. “I’d love to do graduate assisting coaching for Dawn and Tyler. I think it would be great to continue my education here,” he said.