Our Story & Impact

“They’re taking black excellence in academia to another level.” - Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine

What is Veritas?

Veritas (Veritas School of Social Sciences, Inc.) is a pre-collegiate educational institution that offers a fleet of equitable programs that are designed to create economic mobility by developing the next generation of diverse leaders and innovators. 

What We Do

Veritas offers (5) equitable programs that provide rigorous academic and professional skills training to strategically build robust, competitive resumes that position students for admission into the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world.

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College-Level Training

Students accepted into Veritas begin with our flagship program, Veritas Debate Institute, which includes 11 months of weekly Saturday school where students are taught philosophy, political science, sociology, humanities, rhetoric, debate, and literary criticism among other college-level disciplines. Courses are taught by nationally acclaimed educator Brandon P. Fleming who is a former Harvard debate coach, award-winning author, renowned speaker, and founder & CEO of Veritas.

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Harvard Residential Program

The program concludes with the Harvard Debate Council’s international summer residential debate program at Harvard University. Alongside hundreds of gifted youth worldwide, Veritas scholars reside and study on campus for two weeks. The Harvard program culminates in a debate competition that Veritas scholars have won for six consecutive years.

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Professional Skills Training

Upon successful completion of Veritas Debate Institute, the focus shifts from academic to professional skills training. Scholars are given access to monthly alumni programming that is designed to advance their professional skills, build robust resumes, and prepare them for prestigious colleges and high-earning careers.

Who is Veritas For?

Veritas is for rising 8th – 11th-grade students in Metro Atlanta seeking access to higher-level academic training that will challenge them beyond the rigors of a traditional school setting. The ideal candidate is motivated to achieve the highest levels of academic excellence in pursuit of prestigious colleges and universities.

Applications for the next Veritas cohort open each year on March 1st.

Apply or Nominate a Student!

If you know a student who might be a great candidate, nominate them at www.veritasgeorgia.com/nominate

If you are a student who would like to become a Veritas scholar, apply at www.veritasgeorgia.com/apply

Our Programs

Veritas Debate Institute is our introductory training program. VDI is a weekly Saturday school for students in grades 8-11. Veritas scholars receive college-level training in Atlanta for 11 months, which concludes with a summer residential program at Harvard College where they study alongside and compete against hundreds of elite debaters worldwide in Harvard Debate Council’s international competition. For five consecutive years, Veritas scholars have won this competition.

VCIP is a two-week program where students are immersed in the lives of senior level executives and the problems they solve. Each day, we visit a different company where our scholars learn from senior leaders about the complexities that exist within their industry. Throughout the day, our scholars use critical thinking and communication tools learned in the Veritas classroom to
develop and pitch solutions to the most pressing issues in corporate America.

This is continued learning for students who have matriculated through VDI. The world becomes our classroom as we journey to different countries learning empathetic leadership skills through cultural immersion experiences. Each year, we facilitate journeys to places like Israel, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Africa, the UK and many more in order to develop global-minded leaders.

This is continued learning for students who have matriculated through VDI. We use career readiness programming to equip our college students with professional skills that will help build their resumes and teach them how to navigate the corporate world and access the resources they need to create impact and lead high quality lives.

Schools throughout the nation seek to learn from our educational equity model. Each month, we partner with school districts to provide professional development programming for K-12 educators who visit our campus to see and learn from our innovative strategies.. We equip them with tools to take our methods back to their schools and implement our strategies that have proven to increase student engagement and performance.

5 Years, $5 Million Campaign

Make the dream come true.

Our Philosophies

“Tikkun Olam” (Hebrew)

Repairing the world

“Docemus Aequitatem” (Latin)

We teach equity

We do not learn for the sake of knowing. We learn for the sake of doing. We learn how to use our gifts to repair the world.

What is veritas?

Our Why

Too often, Black and brown youth are not given access to high-quality educational opportunities that will make them competitive for college admissions and the workforce. This opportunity gap creates an achievement gap that swells into the racial wealth gap that we see in America. We are closing that gap and creating generational wealth by positioning Black and brown youth to become high earners and contributors.

Making a Difference?

Our Impact

Class of 2018

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Class of 2023

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Over 150 Atlanta Students + Ivy League & Elite Education =

Collective Earning Potential of 10,000,000/yr. in 25 years…

2500 Students = $2.5 BILLION in the Black Community

How it Started?

Our History

Veritas was founded in 2017 by Brandon P. Fleming, an award-winning author, educator, and former Harvard debate coach, as a campus program called Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project. During his tenure at Harvard as assistant debate coach, Fleming identified the need for more representation of Black and brown students in Harvard’s summer residential debate program, understanding how such prestigious academic opportunities impact students’ chances to earn acceptance into elite colleges and universities. With Harvard’s support, Fleming founded the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project to create access for Black youth from Atlanta to study and compete in Harvard’s annual summer residential debate program.

The Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project was designed as a weekly Saturday school to equip Atlanta youth with higher-level academic training to prepare them to compete on an international stage at Harvard’s summer residential debate program. Since 2017, all five cohorts of the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project’s students have won the Harvard Debate Council’s international academic debate competition for five consecutive years – outperforming hundreds of gifted youth from over 25 countries around the world. As a result, Harvard Diversity Project alumni have been accepted into top colleges and universities around the world.

Through his work, Fleming has shown that with determination, resilience, and a passion for learning, anyone can overcome adversity and achieve their dreams. The program’s proven success led to a rapid increase in demand, creating a need for growth and scale. Fleming scaled the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project into the Veritas School of Social Sciences in order to expand the organization’s services to include more programming and allow more youth and educators to access the life-changing educational model.

Veritas is currently in Phase One of a 10-year plan to scale into an international boarding school for people of color. Phase One is the current weekly Saturday school model, and Veritas will launch as a day school in Phase Two.

Our Future

3 Phases of Scale

The program’s unparalleled success and growing demand created a need for scale. To give more youth and educators around the world access to HDCDP’s life-changing educational model, Fleming decided to scale HDCDP into The Veritas School of Social Sciences, which will be one of the first secondary boarding schools in the world for multicultural people of color. Veritas is scaling in three phases: 

Phase One

Veritas will continue operating as a Saturday school called Veritas Debate Institute, which culminates with the summer debate residency at Harvard.

Phase Two

Veritas will launch its day school component for students in Metro Atlanta (projected Fall 2026).

Phase Three

Veritas will launch its international boarding component.