Investing in the education of youth pushes communities forward and can change society for the better. Veritas Institute is helping foster intelligence and propel students to thrive in any academic environment and become successful adults.
Veritas is a nonprofit organization and network of pre-collegiate Saturday schools for gifted and talented youth in grades 5-7 (Veritas Preparatory Program) and grades 8-12 (Veritas Debate Institute) created 10 years ago by Brandon P. Fleming, who saw the need for Black and Brown children in the debate space.
“The mission [is] to increase enrollment for Black and Brown kids in Harvard’s Debate Council, as it provides access to higher education and funding for them,” Fleming said about creating The Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project.
The program welcomed over 100 gifted young scholars from over 25 countries worldwide to study and compete in an international academic debate competition. “I decided to leverage my position as the assistant debate coach for Harvard to create a pipeline program that specially targeted Black students from Atlanta, who I would train and prepare for the summer residential program at Harvard.”
Over nine years, Fleming has raised millions of dollars and enrolled more than 250 students of color in the Harvard Debate Council Summer Workshops on full scholarship, with 8 different cohorts winning the national debate competition. The success of the cohorts led to the program being renamed The Veritas Schools and to the expansion of Veritas, targeting not only high school kids but also 5-7 graders to instill the same excellence as their high school counterparts. It also helped 300+ students attend elite colleges worldwide, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The curriculum of The Veritas Schools, centered on its flagship Veritas Debate Institute, delivers college-level instruction in the social sciences and humanities. Scholars study rigorous survey courses covering philosophy, political science, sociology, humanities, rhetoric, debate, literary criticism, and economics.
The program is structured around three core pillars that shape its instructional philosophy: Scholarship, Leadership, and Culture. Scholarship functions as an incubator for academic excellence, with the goal of cultivating global consciousness and training future citizens and leaders. Leadership serves as a launchpad for young leaders, asserting that youth deserve a voice in public discourse despite lacking voting rights. Culture acts as a hub for cultural pride, seeking to redefine scholarship in ways that are appealing and accessible to Black youth.
Instruction is delivered through rigorous, interactive academic sessions led by instructors affiliated with the Harvard Debate Council, who provide specialized training in public speaking and argumentation. These sessions emphasize critical thinking, research, and the analysis of critical social and political issues, with students actively debating such topics. Practical application extends beyond the classroom, as scholars engage in public debate forums including the Georgia Capitol, Atlanta City Hall, law firms, and courtrooms.
The instructional approach prioritizes social justice, explicitly aimed at repairing systemic breaches of equality, while fostering leadership development and equipping students to become equitable servant-leaders in social, corporate, and political spheres.
Since 2017, Veritas has showcased its success with 25 students and has multiplied to accommodate over 100 students in an ever-growing community. “ We are grateful that parents and the school districts see the success and growth of Veritas, which has allowed us to expand out of Atlanta to other cities like Los Angeles, which we are excited to unveil to the public,” Fleming said.
On August 13, Fleming and Tameka Thomas, the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Schools at The Veritas Schools, will open their new flagship program and have already started accepting students. “It really does take a village, and Compton Unified has done an amazing job with helping us open and spread the word to students about this pathway program to higher education, and we can’t be more excited to get the ball rolling,” Thomas said about the opening.
“With the help of the UPS Foundation, we have expanded the program from Saturdays only to throughout the weekday for students in Los Angeles, to better assist and catapult the scholars to the next level in their education.”
To learn more about the program and hear testimonials from previous students, you can visit https://theveritasschools.org/
