DEBATE INSTITUTE FACULTY

Summer 2012


Tim Alderete

Debate Coach at The Meadows School of Las Vegas, 7 Week Sophomores

Debate coach for 23 years. Tim has taught over 35 labs at institutes, including Michigan, Northwestern, Appleton and Stanford. His students have reached the elimination rounds of every major tournament in the country, including state championships in Illinois, Michigan and Nevada. Students from Tim’s sophomore labs have gone on to win every major debate championship, including The Tournament of Champions, NFL Nationals, National Catholic Forensic League Nationals, and the National Debate Tournament. Tim has unmatched experience teaching young debaters, having taught the Michigan Classic for Sophomores lab for the last 16 years.

Dr. Jarrod Atchison

Director of Debate at Wake Forest University, 7 Week Seniors

This will be Jarrod's fifth summer working at the Michigan Seven Week Seniors Program. He has a genuine and infectious enthusiasm for debate and is the camp's most popular lecturer each summer. As a debater at Wake Forest University, Jarrod was the top seed and third speaker at the National Debate Tournament. He was also runner-up for the Copeland Award, given to the debate season's most outstanding team. Jarrod is the former Director of Debate at Trinity University and a former assistant debate coach at the University of Georgia. While at Georgia, he coached the Copeland Award winner and second speaker at the National Debate Tournament. As a debater at Caddo Magnet High School, Jarrod won the Greenhill and Harvard University tournaments.

Brett Bricker

Assistant Debate Coach at the University of Kansas and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, 7 Week Seniors

As a debater at the University of Kansas, Brett won the 2009 National Debate Tournament. He won multiple other tournaments including Harvard, the University of Southern California, West Georgia and the Kentucky Round Robin. Brett was also Top Speaker at Georgia State, Harvard, the University of Southern California, West Georgia, the Kentucky Round Robin and twice at the Dartmouth Round Robin. In two years coaching at the University of Kansas, he coached four teams to first round at-large bids to the National Debate Tournament, the winner of the 2010 Wake Forest University Tournament and semifinalists and the 2010 and 2011 Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament. In two years coaching at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Brett helped coach the Georgetown Day School champions, finalists of the Harvard Round Robin, and semifinalists at St. Mark's, The Glenbrooks, Michigan and Montgomery Bell Academy. His previous workshop experience includes the Spartan Debate Institute and the Jayhawk Debate Institute. This will be Brett's second summer working with the Seven Week Seniors Program

Josh Brown

Director of Debate at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Classic for Sophomores

Josh has been the Director of Debate at Homewood-Flossmoor High School since 2003. Over this time, his teams have reached late elimination rounds at many regional and national tournaments, qualifying for the Tournament of Champions and the NFL Nationals Tournament on several occasions. This year Josh coaches one of the top Junior teams in the country. They have already earned seven TOC bids, been invited to three round robins, and won the University of Michigan Juniors Round Robin. His debaters have received the top speaker award at the Dowling and Valley tournaments and top five speaker awards at the University of Michigan and New Trier tournaments. This is Josh's first summer working at the University of Michigan Debate Institutes.

Josh Clark

Director of Policy Debate at Juan Diego Catholic High School, 7 Week Juniors

Josh is the former Director of Debate at Notre Dame High School, where he coached the 2009 University of California at Berkeley Champions. His teams have reached the elimination rounds at the Tournament of Champions, Montgomery Bell Academy, St. Mark's, Greenhill, The Glenbrooks, Stanford, the University of Southern California, Meadows, La Costa Canyon, Fullerton, Long Beach, Arizona State University and Alta. Josh was a quarterfinalist at the National Debate Tournament and semifinalist at the Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament. He helped coach the University of Michigan to the semifinals of the 2008 and 2011 National Debate Tournaments. Josh is a former assistant debate coach at Damien High School. He has previously worked at the Spartan Debate Institutes. This will be Josh's sixth summer working at Michigan and fifth summer working with the Seven Week Juniors Program

Parker Cronin

Assistant Debate Coach at the University of Michigan, Classic for Juniors/Seniors and MNDI

Parker helped coach Georgetown Day School to the late elimination rounds of Lexington, Berkeley, Georgia, Harvard and the Tournament of Champions. He won the 2007 Montgomery Bell Academy Tournament and was a quarterfinalist at the 2007 Tournament of Champions. Parker was an elimination round and speaker award recipient at Greenhill, Michigan, New Trier, Emory, Montgomery Bell Academy, Ohio Valley, and The Glenbrooks while debating at Centerville High School. He taught and worked at the Detroit Urban Debate League for the last four years. This will be Parker’s fifth summer on the camp faculty.

Jordan Foley

Debater at Missouri State University, Seven Week Seniors

Jordan was the third seed and Octafinalist at the 2010 National Debate Tournament and a Quarterfinalist at the 2010 Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament. He received a First Round Bid to the National Debate Tournament and participated in elimination rounds at most major national tournaments in 2009-2010, including the Octafinals of Georgia State and the University of Texas as well as the Quarterfinals of Wake Forest. Jordan also helped coach Westminster at 2010 Tournament of Champions. In previous summers, he has worked at the Missouri State Debate Institute. Jordan debated at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.

Eric Forslund

Associate Director of Debate at Greenhill School, 7 Week Juniors

This year, Eric's teams have won The Glenbrooks, Georgetown University, Bronx Science, Grapevine and the Northwestern University Round Robin. He is a former Assistant Coach at Damien High School, where his teams appeared in the late elimination rounds at Greenhill, Berkeley, USC, Arizona State, Meadows, New Trier and Golden Desert. In two years at the University of Wyoming, Eric coached teams to the elimination rounds at nearly every major college tournament, including Harvard, Northwestern, Wake Forest, Texas, the University of Southern California, California State University at Fullerton, Gonzaga, Georgia State University and CEDA Nationals. He has previously worked at the Michigan Classic, the Spartan Debate Institutes, the Cal National Debate Institute and the Wyoming Forensics Institute.

Michael Greenstein

Director of Debate at Glenbrook North High School, 7 Week Juniors

This is Michael's third year as director of his alma mater, Glenbrook North High School. He was previously Director of Debate at New Trier High School, where he coached the Top Speaker of the 2009 Tournament of Champions, Greenhill, Wake Forest and Ohio Valley. At GBN Michael's teams won St. Mark's, New Trier and Marquette, reached the finals of Georgetown Day and Berkeley, and the semifinals of Greenhill and Georgetown. He coached the Top Speaker at New Trier and second place team at the Greenhill Round Robin. Michael's coached the Georgia State Champion in 2007 and the Illinois State Champion in 2009, 2010, and 2011. As a debater in high school, he twice advanced to the elimination rounds at the Tournament of Champions and won top five speaker awards at nearly every tournament he attended. While debating at Emory University, Michael reached the semifinals of Georgia State, Wake Forest and CEDA Nationals, as well as the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament three times. He is a past participant of the Michigan Debate Institutes and has previously worked at the Dartmouth Debate Institute, Miami of Ohio, and Michigan National Debate Institute. This will be Michael's fourth summer working with the Seven Week Juniors Program.

David Heidt

Assistant Director of Debate at the University of Michigan and Assistant Debate Coach at Westminster, 7 Week Juniors

This will be David's seventeenth summer working at the camp and eighth summer working in a Seven Week Juniors Lab with Jason Peterson. He has helped coach four Tournament of Champions winners and one finalist. David helped coached the Top Speaker at the TOC and second speaker three times. He has helped coach the winner of nearly every major high school debate tournament multiple times, including three of the last five NDCA Baker Award winners, four of the last six Greenhill Round Robin winners and three of the last five winners of St. Mark's. As a college assistant, David coached the winner of two National Debate Tournaments and two CEDA National Debate Tournaments. As a college debater, he won the National Debate Tournament.

Jenny Heidt

Director of Debate at The Westminster Schools, 7 Week Seniors

This will be Jenny's seventh summer working at the Michigan Seven Week Seniors Program. She has coached five Tournament of Champions winners and one finalist. Jenny coached the Top Speaker at the TOC and second speaker twice. Her teams have won nearly every major high school debate tournament multiple times, including three of the last five NDCA Baker Awards for the top team in the nation, four of the last six Greenhill Round Robin winners and three of the last five winners of St. Mark's. Jenny has previously worked at the Wake Forest University debate camp, the Emory University debate camp, and the Arizona Debate Institute for college debaters.

Melanie Johnson

Director of Debate at Iowa City West High School, 7 Week Seniors

Melanie has been at Iowa City West High School since 2008. In the years since, her teams have reached the elimination rounds of many regional and national tournaments, earned numerous top ten speaker awards, been invited to national round robins, won two state championships, and qualified for the Tournament of Champions and NFL Nationals, including a fourth place finish in 2011. Melanie's teams have reached the elimination rounds of nearly every tournament they attended, including New Trier, Blake and the Barkley Forum. Her debaters have won Michigan, the Iowa Caucus and the Valley Mid-America Cup, reached the semifinals at The Glenbrooks, and reached the quarterfinals at Greenhill and St. Mark's. Melanie is a former college debater and National Debate Tournament qualifier. She has previously led a lab at the Marquette University Debate Institute. This will be Melanie’s second summer working with the Seven Week Seniors Program.

Shunta Jordan

Director of Speech and Debate at Pace Academy, 7 Week Juniors

Shunta coached the 2009 and 2007 Tournament of Champions quarterfinalists. She also coached the 2007 St. Mark's Champions and Top Speaker at the 2008 St. Mark's and Glenbrooks Tournaments. Over the past five years, Shunta has coached teams to the elimination rounds at the Tournament of Champions, Greenhill, Montgomery Bell Academy, Berkeley, The Barkley Forum, Harvard, The Glenbrooks, Wake Forest, Lexington, Blake, Michigan and Georgetown. She has worked at the Emory National Debate Institute, Stanford National Forensic Institute and Bates Forensic Institute. Shunta is the current Director of the Emory University Middle School Debate Institute. She is a former debater at the University of Georgia and National Debate Tournament participant. Shunta has twenty plus years of debate experience. This will be her seventh summer as a faculty member of the Michigan Debate Institutes.

Aaron Kall

Director of Debate at the University of Michigan

Coach of the Finalists and Fifth Speaker at the 2002 National Debate Tournament and Semifinalists at the 2011 and 2008 NDT. Coach of the University of Kentucky Semifinalists, University of Southern California Semifinalists and Georgia State University Finalists. Coach of the Top Speaker at the Wake Forest University and University of West Georgia Tournaments and Second Speaker at Harvard University and Georgia State University Tournaments. Quarterfinalist at the 2001 Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament. Formerly coached at the University of Kentucky and worked at the Kentucky National Debate Institute. A past participant and returning faculty member to the Michigan Debate Institutes.

Sara Kirsch

Assistant Debate Coach at Lexington High School and Master of Art Candidate at Brandeis University, MNDI

This is Sara's first year assisting Lexington High School. She has previously coached nationally competitive teams at Wylie E. Groves High School and Brother Rice High School, assisting Brother Rice to qualify for the Tournament of Champions in 2011. Sara attended Wylie E. Groves High School, where she won the University of Michigan Tournament and Round Robin, Detroit Country Day, Michigan State University, and Varsity state final tournament. She was a semifinalist at St. Marks and The Glenbrooks, a quarterfinalist at Montgomery Bell Academy and Harvard, and an octafinalist at Greenhill and the 2007 Tournament of Champions. As an undergraduate Sara briefly debated at Emory University and Michigan State University, where she reached the quarterfinals of the Freshman-Sophomore Nationals tournament. This is her second year teaching at the Michigan Debate Institutes and has previously worked at the Spartan Debate Institute.

Elli Kuenzel

Junior Debater at Emory University and Assistant Coach at Westminster, 7 Week Juniors

In addition to being a participant at the National Debate Tournament, last year Elli reached the elimination rounds at Georgia State University, Northwestern University, Wake Forest University, the University of Southern California and California State University at Fullerton. She has helped coach a number of teams at Westminster to regional and national success, including two Tournament of Champions victories. A past participant of the Michigan Seven Week Program, this will be Elli’s third summer teaching in a Seven Week Juniors Lab.

Maria Liu

Senior Debater at the University of Michigan and Assistant Debate Coach at The Harker School, 7 Week Sophomores

Maria is a three-time elimination round participant at the National Debate Tournament. This year, she was a semifinalist at the University of Kentucky Henry Clay Debates and Octafinalist at Georgia State University and Wake Forest University. In 2010-2011, Maria was a semifinalist at the National Debate Tournament, winner of the University of Georgia Tournament, won third place at the University of Kentucky Round Robin, and was a quarterfinalist at Harvard University, Wake Forest University, the University of Southern California and California State University at Fullerton. She debated at Okemos High School and reached the elimination rounds of many Tournament of Champions bid tournaments. Maria has already been accepted to the University of Michigan Law School as part of the Wolverine Scholars program. She is a past participant of the Michigan Debate Institutes and this will be her fourth year as a faculty member at the Michigan Seven Week Program.

Calum Matheson

Assistant Debate Coach at Glenbrook South High School and Harvard University, 7 Week Seniors

This will be Calum's eighth summer working at the Michigan Debate Institutes and fourth summer working with the Seven Week Seniors Program. He was the 2008 Acolyte Award recipient, given to the top assistant coach in high school debate. Calum’s been an assistant coach at Glenbrook South for the past seven years and helped coach the finalist and second speaker at the Tournament of Champions. This year, his debaters have reached the finals of Greenhill, quarterfinals of St. Mark's, semifinals of New Trier and Dowling, and won the Top Speaker award at Greenhill, the Greenhill Round Robin, and New Trier. As an assistant debate coach at the University of North Texas, Calum helped coach the Top Speaker at the 2009 National Debate Tournament. As a college debater at Michigan State University, he was the Top Speaker and finalist at CEDA Nationals and twice a semifinalist at the National Debate Tournament. Calum won Northwestern and the Kentucky Round Robin and was Top Speaker at Northwestern, Harvard, Kentucky, the Kentucky Round Robin, Southern California, Georgia State, and Fullerton. He has previously worked at the Northwestern and North Texas debate institutes.

Jason Peterson

Assistant Director of Debate at Berkeley and Assistant Coach at St. Mark's, 7 Week Juniors

This will be Jason's twelfth summer working at the camp and eighth summer working in a Seven Week Juniors Lab with David Heidt. He received the 2009 Acolyte Award, given to the top assistant coach in high school debate. As an assistant coach at St. Mark's, Jason's teams have reached the finals of the Tournament of Champions, won The Glenbrooks, New Trier and Grapevine, and were in the finals of The Barkley Forum, Greenhill, the University of Southern California and the University of Texas. He was previously the Director of Debate at Notre Dame High School, where he coached a team to the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions. As a debater at Pace University, Jason reached the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament.

Sheila Peterson

Director of Debate at Edina High School, 7 Week Juniors

Sheila's teams have earned Tournament of Champions bids at The Glenbrooks, St. Mark's, Blake, Emory, Greenhill, Michigan, Harvard, Maine East, Valley, Iowa Caucus and Dowling. Her debaters have also won Top Speaker at Blake, Michigan, Iowa Caucus and Valley. Sheila has coached three teams to the Top 15 at NFL Nationals. In only her second year at Edina, she coached the only policy team in 2009-2010 to go from having no TOC bids the previous season to having four bids and a Top 16 ranking by the National Debate Coach's Association. This year, Sheila coaches one of the top senior teams in the country, who reached the semifinals at Greenhill and quarterfinals at St. Mark's, Michigan and The Glenbrooks. Her other novice and varsity teams have already won 6 local tournaments this season. At Concordia College, Sheila consistently reached elimination rounds at tournaments such as Northwestern, Baylor and Redlands. As an Edina High School debater, she was one of the first Minnesota debaters to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, winning both the Blake Tournament and Little Nationals her senior year. Sheila formerly coached at Highland Park (MN) and this is her fifth year working at the Michigan Debate Institutes and fourth year working with the Seven Week Juniors Program. She is also a past participant of the Michigan Debate Institutes.

Scott Phillips

Assistant Debate Coach at The Meadows School of Las Vegas, 7 Week Juniors

This will be Scott's ninth summer working at the Michigan Debate Institutes. In high school, he was the Top Speaker at the Tournament of Champions and CFL National Champion. While debating for Emory University, Scott won ADA nationals, the University of Kentucky Round Robin, Harvard University, Northwestern University and West Georgia. He is a former debate coach at Pace Academy, Notre Dame High School and The Potomac School. Scott has previously worked at the Emory National Debate Institute. He is a co-founder of The 3NR, a collaborative blog about high school policy debate.

Brian Rubaie

Assistant Debate Coach at Glenbrook North High School and the University of Texas-Dallas, 7 Week Seniors

Brian has coached high school debate for over half a dozen years, qualifying several teams to the Tournament of Champions in addition to coaching numerous tournament champions and Top Speakers. In only two years coaching UT-Dallas his teams have made appearances at the Kentucky Round Robin and the elimination rounds of every major national tournament, including the National Debate Tournament. As a debater at UT-Dallas, Brian won Georgia State University, reached the semifinals of Harvard University, Berkeley, the Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament and the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament and Wake Forest University. He was a top ten speaker at every major national tournament, including the National Debate Tournament. Brian has previously worked at Gonzaga Scholars, the University of North Texas, Baylor University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the University of Vermont. This will be his second summer working with the Seven Week Seniors Program.

Sara Sanchez

Director of Debate at Lexington High School, 7 Week Sophomores

In 2010-2011 Sara coached the finalists at the Tournament of Champions, The Blake School and Lakeland Champions and the winners of the Harvard and Michigan Round Robins. Last year Lexington High School qualified more teams to the Tournament of Champions (5) than any other school in the country. Sara's had a team in the elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions 7 of the last 8 years, dating back to her time as an Assistant Coach at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's. Her teams have consistently reached the late elimination rounds of every major national tournament including the NDCA National Championship and NFL Nationals.

Christina Tallungan

Director of Debate at Notre Dame High School, Classic for Sophomores and MNDI

Christina’s Notre Dame students have reached the elimination rounds at St. Mark's, The Glenbrooks, Montgomery Bell Academy, Blake, Berkeley, Meadows, USC, Damien, Alta, Victory Briefs, Golden Desert, and Long Beach. Three of her teams have qualified to the Tournament of Champions in the last two years. Christina also coached the 2011 Second Place and 2010 Third Place International Public Policy Forum teams. As the Director of Debate at Glenbrook North High School (2005-2009), she coached the winner of the 2007 Tournament of Champions and NFL Nationals, the Top Speaker and Semifinalists at the 2006 Tournament of Champions, and the Top Speaker of the 2006 NFL Nationals. She was a four year CEDA/NDT debater at the University of Southern California. Christina has previously taught at the University of Southern California National Debate Institute, Southern California Urban Debate League Camp, Chicago Urban Debate League Camp, the Michigan Debate Institutes, and the Emory National Debate Institute.

Sarah Topp

Director of Debate at Trinity University and Assistant Debate Coach at the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Classic for Juniors/Seniors

As the current director of debate at Trinity, Sarah has coached several successful team to elimination rounds at national tournaments. She coached at the University of Kansas from 2003 until 2010, during which time KU won the National Debate Tournament, reached finals of the Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament, and received eight first round at-large bids to the National Debate Tournament. Sarah has judged extensively in high school and college and is regularly asked to judge in late elimination rounds of tournaments, including judging in the final rounds of the 2007 CEDA and National Debate Tournament and 2011 NDT. She has led 2, 3, and 4 week labs at the Spartan Debate Institute, the Jayhawk Debate Institute and the Concordia Debate Institute. This is Sarah's second year at the Michigan Classic.

Aaron Vinson

Director of Debate at New Trier High School, MNDI

This is Aaron's first year as Director at New Trier High School. He was previously the Head Policy Debate Coach at Princeton High School where he qualified several teams to the Ohio State Debate Tournament over the last two years. Aaron qualified to the National Debate Tournament in all four years of debating at Miami University in Ohio. Aaron debated for Glenbrook North High School at the Tournament of Champions and returned to coach his alma matter at various national tournaments, including the elimination rounds of the TOC. In the last five years at Glenbrook North, Princeton, and New Trier, Aaron has coached teams in the elimination rounds of most major national tournaments. He has previously taught at the Miami Debate Institute and Spartan Debate Institute.

Whit Whitmore

Assistant Debate Coach at the University of Michigan

Coach of the Semifinalists at the 2011 and 2008 National Debate Tournament and University of Kentucky Tournament. Coach of the Top Speaker at Wake Forest and West Georgia and Second Speaker at Harvard and Georgia State. His teams at Woodward Academy won the University of Georgia Tournament, reached the Finals at Greenhill, Semifinals at St. Mark's and Michigan, and Quarterfinals at The Barkley Forum and The Glenbrooks. Semifinalist at the American Debate Association National Tournament, Winner of the University of Alabama Crimson Classic, and Finalist at the Delta Sigma Rho/Tau Kappa Alpha National Tournament. Whit has worked for Mercer University, the University of Alabama, and Piedmont College. A former institute instructor at Emory, Wyoming, and Georgia State. A returning faculty member to the Michigan Debate Institutes.