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| Past
SDI
Staff |
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One of the best
parts about the Summer
Debate
Institute is the excellent
staff.
Our staff includes college
debaters and young
professionals from across
the country with extensive
experience at both the high
school and
collegiate levels.
Over the years, we have had
an excellent staff
participate with us in
training students.
Here is a listing of some of
our past SDI staff members:
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| Michael
Bixby
In 2003, it has been
rumored that a
doctor diagnosed Michael
as being what some
scientists call a debatiac
(a person afflicted with
debate). Not
coincidentally, Michael
began
debating in NCFCA in 2003
and continued until 2006.
In 2006, he
co-authored the evidence
sourcebook Definitive
Debate. He currently is
a senior at Bob Jones
University, majoring in
political science and
minoring in business. He
has debated for the BJU
debate team since 2006
in the National
Educational Debate
Association (NEDA), where
he and his
partner placed 2nd
nationally in 2007 and won
the varsity team policy
nationals in 2008. Outside
of his forensics life, he
occupies most of
his time with talking,
guitar-playing, politics,
his girlfriend, his
beloved society (the Phi
Kappa Pi Rams), and being
weird (in no
particular order).
Teaching experience:
Michael has taught debate
in a variety of venues,
beginning with the club he
founded in 2005, NC-BADD
(North Carolina
Born Again Defenders and
Debaters). He also taught
debate at Tabernacle
Christian School in
Hickory, NC (2005 and
2006). From time to time,
he
has been a special speaker
and very part-time coach
for CI-BAD (Central
Illinois Born Again
Debaters). This past year
he served as the
Vice-president for the
Inter-society Debate
Association at BJU, giving
instructional debate
lectures for
beginners.
Favorite Quote: “Listen --
strange women lying in
ponds distributing
swords is no basis for a
system of government.
Supreme executive power
derives from a mandate
from the masses, not from
some farcical aquatic
ceremony.” – Dennis
Favorite sports team(s):
Newcastle United, England,
the Miami Dolphins,
or the University of North
Carolina, for each of
their sports/leagues
respectively.
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: I am
excited to be an SDI
staffer because I know how
amazingly awesome and
incredibly fun SDI
will be this year. From my
experience with SDI, I
know that everyone
and anyone can learn a lot
from SDI. I know how much
I gained from SDI
as a student, and I’m
excited to be able to help
others sharpen their
argumentation and rhetoric
skills.
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| Kirby
Gowen
Bio: Kirby Gowen has
been involved in
competitive speech and
debate in the NCFCA for
seven years. Debating
for five years and
competing in IEs for
three. While that might
seem to
add up to eight, it
really was only seven
total years. Kirby
qualified
for nationals four times
in Team Policy, earning
10th place
team (2005) and 5th
place team (2006) at the
national level.
Kirby was undefeated in
prelims and twice
declined breaking to
outrounds at two LD
qualifiers in the 2007
debate season. This
upcoming
year Kirby will join the
world of collegiate
debate competing on the
Grove City College
debate team.
Teaching
Experience:
Kirby started coaching
during his varsity years
in debate.
Working with his home
club, Modesto Debate, he
performed functions such
as critiquing rounds and
tutoring novices. In
2006 and 2007 Kirby
worked at Santa Clara
University’s summer
debate camp as a team
policy
TA, LD lecturer, and
Ultimate Frisbee
organizer.
Quotation:
“Resolved:
Democracy
is overvalued by the
United States
government.”
-2006-2007
NCFCA
LD Resolution
Favorite
Sports
Team: Who is
winning?
Why
you're
excited to be an SDI
staffer: I love
debate. I love LD.
Given an opportunity to
spend five whole days
working with students on
debate; I wouldn’t miss
it. This should be a
great camp and I’m
looking
forward to meeting you
all. Oh, and one last
thing: for all those
people that say LD
stands for “Ladies
Debate” or “Loser’s
Debate”.
Well. We’ll show them.
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| Renee
Jorgensen
Bio: A senior at
Biola
University, Renee has a
long history in the NCFCA.
She competed in
Policy debate for six
years, earning several
California championships
and a number of national
awards, including 5th Team
Policy (2002), 4th
Combined Sweepstakes
(2002), and Impromptu
Champion (2004). In
college
debate, she and her
partner quarterfinaled at
NCCFI Nationals(2007),
and placed 3rd at the
Biola Invitational (2007).
Though on the debate
team, Renee has chosen to
focus instead on her
studies, and is well on
her way to earning a
double degree in Painting
(BFA) and Philosophy
(BA). She has just
returned from a semester
studying Philosophy of
Mind
at Oxford University, and
has spent the summer
working for Kaplan as an
LSAT instructor.
Teaching Experience: Renee
began teaching debate in
2002 and just never
stopped. She taught
several introductory
classes in California,
served
as a student coach for
CLASH, toured as an
instructor for
Communicators
for Christ in 2004, taught
at three Masters
Conferences and eleven
Forensics camps for chools
such as Santa Clara
University & Green
Valley Highschool. This
will be her third year as
an instructor at SDI.
Favorite sports
team: Aneheim Angels
Why you're excited to be
an SDI Staffer: I've
been working at SDI
for the past two years,
and am looking forward to
returning this year
to see old friends, make
new ones, and see
energetic students
excitedly
learn and apply new
concepts.
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| Kristi
Lam
Short biography: Kristi
competed in
NCFCA for three years,
qualifying for nationals
each year. At the 2005
National tournament, she
ranked eleventh place team
and third place
speaker. She was also the
2004-2005 debate captain
of Chicago CHARGE.
Kristi spent this past
spring as an exchange
student at Xiamen
University in Xiamen,
China, which is on the
same latitude (and has the
same beautiful weather) as
Miami, Florida. Presently,
Kristi is a
senior at Olivet Nazarene
University, where she
majors in Communication
Studies and Video/TV
Production and minors in
Political Science and
Family and Consumer
Sciences.
Teaching experience: Two
years of Chicago CHARGE
novice classes and
three years of SDI, an
hour long English lesson
to five different
classes of Chinese high
schoolers, and can, upon
request, teach anyone
with a cello how to play
the Pachelbel Canon in D.
Quotation: "If you don't
find it in the index, look
very carefully
through the entire
catalogue." - Sears,
Roebuck, & Co.
consumer's
guide, 1897
Favorite sports team: The
Chicago Bears. Why is this
a question?
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: Because
after the students
leave, we party. A lot.
But actually, SDI is a
great way to learn a lot
about India, meet
fantastic people, and find
out how much sleep you can
not have. I love it!
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| Benjamin
Wolfson
Bio: Speech has been a
part of
Benjamin's life starting
at an early age in grade
school with drama and
speech competitions.
Starting in high school
Benjamin began his
experience in NCFCA with
Team policy debate and
speech events. He
qualified for the 2002,
2003 and 2004 National
Tournaments, placing 2nd
Place Policy debate team
in 2002, 1st place
Sweepstakes Champion in
2003, and 12th Place
Policy debate team and 5th
place overall
Sweepstakes in 2004.
Benjamin competed for the
College of DuPage where
he was the 2005 Illinois
state runner-up in open
parliamentary debate,
2005 state sweepstakes
champion, 2006 state
parliamentary debate
champion, and won national
championships in
parliamentary debate,
extemporaneous speaking
and communication
analysis. In addition,
Benjamin was the head
coach for Chicago CHARGE
Speech and Debate Club,
leading the club to
national preeminence in
both speech and debate. He
currently attends Loyola
University in Chicago
where he is completing a
degree in finance and
accounting and is very
active in his business
fraternity, Delta Sigma
Pi, serving as the
fraternity's Vice
President
of Professional
activities. He is
currently employed by the
Tribune
Company at their corporate
office in Chicago where he
works in their
tax accounting department.
Benjamin plans on sitting
for the Certified
Public Accountants exam
after completing his
requirements in December
and after completing his
internship at the
accounting firm Deloitte
& Touche in April of
2009.
Teaching Experience: In
addition to being a
teacher and coach for
Chicago CHARGE, Benjamin
has had the opportunity to
teach student's
from around the country.
Benjamin has also had the
privilege of
teaching with
Communicators for Christ
for two years at numerous
conferences as well as
running debate workshops
for NCFCA policy
debaters including Masters
Conference 2003 &
2004, Hiwassee Debate
Camp in Tennessee 2004,
Summer Debate Institute
2004, 2005, 2006 &
2007, and the Patrick
Henry College Debate Camp
2005.
Quotation: "To
change and to change for
the better are two
different things" -German
Proverb
Favorite sports
team: Chicago Cubs,
Dallas Cowboys
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: This will
be my 5th year
teaching at the Summer
Debate Institute and I
still get excited as the
beginning of the camp
draws near. I am thrilled
to meet a number of you
and help jump-start your
2008-2009 debate season.
The Summer Debate
Institute provides you
with the tools you need to
learn or further
maintain your debate
fundamentals, excellent
staff feedback through
drills, critique rounds
and hands on training, and
first class outside
expert speakers to help us
all get a better
understanding of the
resolution. On top of all
of that, everyone meets
fellow debaters and
creates lifelong friends
at SDI. I look forward to
meeting you and
challenging you to be the
best you can be!
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| Jacob
Quan
High
school
Experience/Awards: Jacob
competed and coached
extensively in
high school, beginning
with several first place
speaker awards in his
freshman year and
continuing with equal
success. He qualified
for
nationals in both team
policy and
Lincoln-Douglas debate
as well as
several speech events
and coached many
nationally ranking
debaters as
well.
College:
4th year Political
Science Major at UCLA
Current
Forensic
Experience: None in
college, but the skills
I learned have
been invaluable in
helping me as one of the
directors of the Special
Olympics at UCLA
Program, as well as one
of the leaders of the
UCLA
Taekwondo Team.
Coaching
Experience: Competed
three years in team
debate and speech and
one
year in Lincoln Douglas.
Coaching began during my
Lincoln Douglas year,
and continued all
through high school, so
four years total of
coaching.
Quotation:
John
Wooden "The most
important key to
achieving great success
is to
decide upon your goal
and launch, get started,
take action, move."
Note
from
Jacob: Excited to come
to SDI. Hopefully we'll
have a lot of
learning, and perhaps a
bit of fun too.
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| Heather
Zupancic
Heather will be joining
us in her
first year on the SDI
staff. As a former
member of Chicago CHARGE
and current member of the
College of DuPage
Forensics Team, Heather is
excited to pass along her
expertise to the students
at SDI this year.
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Stephen
Colbert
Bio: Stephen
Colbert (yes, for real)
once had a dream of
hosting
a
television show where he
could discuss politics and
current events
while entertaining an
audience. Due to
copyright infringement and
and
some poser, he diverted
his energy to high school
debate, where he
Attended nationals 4 times
and almost beat Jason in a
a random final
one time. After
Graduation, Stephen moved
on to compete in College
Forensics at COD and
earned a silver medal in
parliamentary debate at
nationals. Stephen
then transferred to
Bradley University to get
a
degree in Entrepreneurship
and participated with the
Bradley speech
tea. Stephen took the
spring semester off school
to save money and is
currently working at
Subway making 5 dollar
foot longs to fund his
return to school and
forensics this fall.
Coaching Experience: This
will be Stephen's second
year teaching at
SDI. He assists in
coaching the Chicago
CHARGE team when he's able
and
has been involved in peer
coaching for both COD and
Bradley forensics
teams.
Quotation: "I live my life
free of compromise, and
step into the
shadows without complaint
or regret." -Rorschach,
Watchmen, Alan
Moore.
On a less serious note
"The secret of life is
honesty and fair
dealing. If you can fake
that, you've got it made."
-Groucho Marx
Note from Stephen : SDI
was always the highlight
of my summer as a
debater. My goal in
teaching debate is not to
teach how to have
the
right answers, but how to
ask the right questions.
2008
Adjunct Staff
David Dinsmore
Bio: David competed in
debate for two
years in the NCFCA,
debated at nationals both
years, and placed 8th at
nationals in 2006. He is
currently studying
Literature and Philosophy
at Geneva College where he
is entering his Junior
year.
Teaching experience:
David has been
helping to critique rounds
with his home club,
Chicago CHARGE, when
he’s not at school and has
critiqued rounds at SDI
over the years. He
also works as a Teacher’s
Assistant for Geneva
College’s Humanities
program.
Favorite Quote: “He that
knows nothing
will believe anything." ~
Thomas Fuller
Favorite Sports Team:
David was told
that CHARGE doesn’t count
as a sports team, but he
didn’t seem to care
about any other kind of
team.
Why you're excited to be
an SDI
staffer: Teaching
Humanities is fun, but
debate might be even more
fun
and SDI students are a joy
to work with! Also, I
think the title
“Adjunct Staff” is really
cool!
Jason Lam
Bio: Jason was born. He
immediately
caught jaundice. Things
went downhill from there.
Along the way, he
competed in NCFCA for five
years, and was co-captain
of Chicago CHARGE
for the last two years. He
now is headed to Texas to
get a tan and
*not* compete in college
forensics. Alternate
versions of that last
sentence include
allegations that he in
fact is ditching his
family,
putting undue stress on
his girlfriend, and is
majoring in Mathematics
with a concentration in
Actuarial Science at Texas
Christian University.
Teaching Experience: Jason
taught two classes of
novices for CHARGE,
did everything that goes
along with being captain
(which is basically
being a bright, cheery
face while you inflict
torture), helped kids
with math, and taught a
lot of people how to play
Kings of Chaos.
Favorite Quote: "Michael
Jordan plays ball. Charles
Manson kills
people. I talk. Everyone
has a talent." ~Nick
Naylor
Favorite Sports Teams:
Chicago Bears, Chicago
Bulls, TCU Horned Frogs
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: The league
has given me a lot.
This helps me give back.
Peter Villim
Bio: Peter spent a total
of six years
competing in and enjoying
debate in NCFCA which is
probably more than
is healthy for anyone.
Along the way he competed
and broke three times
at the national level and
won a few tournaments. His
last two years in
the league he co-captained
Chicago CHARGE. He also
spent his time in
high school programming,
running a computer
business, interning during
the summer, playing
soccer, and pretending to
know how to play golf
among other things. This
fall he will be attending
the University of
Illinois where he will be
majoring in Industrial
Engineering. He’s not
quite sure what he will be
doing in college other
than studying and
consuming caffeine.
Teaching Experience: As
co-captain of Chicago
CHARGE Peter did a fair
bit of teaching related to
debate. During high school
he also ran a
neighborhood computer
business which at times
gave him experience
teaching computer skills
to people who had never
touched computers
before.
Favorite Quote: “There are
three kinds of lies: lies,
[darn] lies, and
statistics.” -Benjamin
Disraeli
Favorite Sports Teams:
Peter still doesn’t know
the names of most of
the sports teams in his
city and only recently
figured out his college
has a decent basketball
team. He does know that
his calc teacher seemed
to be happier in class
when his favorite football
team was doing
well.
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: I really
got a lot out of the
league during my time in
it, and I’d like to help
other kids try to get
as much out of it as I
did.
Jesse Wahlen
Bio: Jesse’s involvement
in Speech and
Debate began in the NCFCA
in 2001. During his career
in the league, he
earned many awards
including 1st Place Policy
Debate Team, 1st Place
Duo Interp and 1st Place
Apologetics at Regionals
as well as 4th Place
Apologetics at Nationals
in 2005. Currently, he is
a rising senior at
Loyola University Chicago
where is a Presidential
Scholar majoring in
Economics. He is also a
member of Beta Gamma
Sigma, the business
student honors society. In
college, Jesse is an
Elaine Bruggemeir
debate scholar and
president of the LUC
Debate Society, the oldest
debate team in the nation.
He won the Loyola
University Chicago Ethics
Bowl and has been ranked
one of the top 100 teams
in the National
Parliamentary Debate
Association. Jesse is also
an intern in the Equity
Research department of
Morningstar Inc.
Teaching Experience: Jesse
helped teach the novice
class at his home
club in Racine, Wisconsin
in 2005. He also taught a
workshop on
Apologetics in 2006 for
CHARGE and regularly works
with the novices in
his debate club at
Loyola.
Favorite sports team:
Chicago Cubs
Quote: "But what is
happiness except the
simple harmony between a
man
and the life he leads.” -
Albert Camus
Why you're excited to be
an SDI staffer: I am a
firm believer that
those who teach learn, so
I look forward to learning
along with the
other students. I have
never been involved with
SDI before, so I am
looking for to being a
part of it.
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Jonathan
Dinsmore
High
school
Experience/Awards:
4 years of TP debate 1st
year 9th place
at nats, then 8th place
then 18th place with 3rd
place speaker.
College:I
have completed one year
at Geneva College in
western PA, majoring in
engineering.
Current
Forensic
Experience: I am
not currently engaged in
any sort o
forensics but have found
my background helpful
for the several
engineering
presentations that I
have had to do and for
helping me be
able to more effectively
organize my thinking.
Coaching
Experience: I have
done some coaching
during the various
college
brakes this past year
Note
from Jonathan:
SDI: where nerds can
just be nerds. (I’m
still
working on it…)
Grace
Hollister
Bio:Gracie
competed in NCFCA for
three years and went to
nationals twice in speech
events. She is currently
attending North Central
College in Naperville,
IL with a major in
Organizational
Communications and a
double minor in
History of Ideas and
Psychology. Training and
competition in forensics
has been beneficial to her
college education,
especially in her
communication and speech
classes. This past year,
she aided in coaching
and training novice
debaters in Chicago.
Quotation: “If a
man is called to
be a street sweeper, he
should sweep streets even
as Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven
composed music, or
Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He
should sweep streets so
well that all the hosts of
heaven and earth
will pause to say, here
lived a great street
sweeper who did his job
well.” -Martin Luther King
Jr.
Note from Gracie:
SDI is a really
great way to start the
debate season. You'll
learn a lot of
information, have healthy
competition with the other
students, and make
new friends. I hope you
all have as much fun here
as I did!
Chris Heggem
Bio: There is a difference
between talking and
speaking. Chris has
always been a talker, but it
took high school forensics
to change him
into a speaker. In each year
of his competition in the
NCFCA
(2001-2003), Chris qualified
for nationals and placed 2nd
in Dramatic,
2nd in Combined Sweepstakes,
3rd in Policy Debate, and
4th Policy
Debate Speaker in 2003.
Since then Chris went on to
coach at Clash, the
winningest club in
HSLDA/NCFCA history. After
two years of coaching,
Chris left his home state of
California to compete for
Carson-Newman
College. This past year,
Carson-Newman College became
the national
champions in forensics and
Chris won the state
championship in
parliamentary debate.
Teaching Experience: Chris
has taught speech and debate
to over 5,000
high school and college
students. Communicators for
Christ, De Anza
College, and Santa Clara
University are just a few of
the different
venues that Chris has spent
time teaching.
Quote: "LD is like training
wheels without the bike."
-Chris Heggem
Specialization: Making lousy
mashed potatoes. From
scratch. Also, is
skilled at cross-examination
and debate strategy.
Non-Forensics life: He loves
Carson-Newman College and
East Tennessee.
He spends much of his time
playing sports and hanging
with friends. For
a living, Chris runs a small
videography company and
works with several
start-ups including
MyHandshake.com
Note from Chris: Be my
friend, please. |
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Kirsten
Flewelling
BIO: Kirsten Flewelling's
current existence is defined
through and by
her experiences in NCFCA. At
age 13, she attended her
first debate
conference, and in the past
eight years, has not been
able to escape
from debate's persistent
clutches. Her high school
debate career
culminated in national
titles in both
Lincoln-Douglas (2002) and
Team
Policy debate (2003). In
2003, Kirsten competed in
parliamentary debate
for Point Loma Nazarene
University. That year, Point
Loma took first
place for the overall
college rankings. Since
then, Kirsten has coached
for Paradigm Speech &
Debate club in San Diego,
focusing on policy
debate and limited
preparation events.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Conference in Illinois,
2002; Fall Forensics
Workshop in California,
2002-2005; Introduction to
Debate Class for Heritage
Christian School, 2002-2004;
Summer Debate
Institute, 2005; Masters'
Conference with
Communicators for Christ,
2003, 2006; Coach of
Paradigm Speech & Debate
Club, 2003-2006
SPECIALIZATION: Talking in
the 3rd person;
Lincoln-Douglas; Policy;
Limited Prep events
QUOTE: She said she usually
cried at least once each day
not because
she was sad, but because the
world was so beautiful &
life was so
short. - Brian Andreas
The angels are lost in
perpetual contemplation of
an infinite glory. -
Viktor Frankl
NON-FORENSICS LIFE: Kirsten
is finishing up her
undergraduate studies
at San Diego State
University, where she has a
double-major in History
and Political Science. She
is actively pursuing several
directions for
her post-undergraduate life
(Harare, New York, or
Boston), and God only
knows where she'll end up.
In this present time between
past &
future, she spends her time
laughing, dancing and
listening to music,
preferably in the company of
her best friends.
NOTE: Debate is wonderful,
but people even moreso. |
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Renee
Jorgensen
Bio: Now a Junior at Biola
University, Renee engaged in
public speaking
and debate for six years in
Jr and Sr High school. Top
awards include
5th Team Policy(2002), 4th
Combined Sweepstakes (2002),
Impromptu
Champion (2004), and also
the California Team Policy
Championship
(2003). In college debate,
she and her partner
quarterfinaled at NCCFI
Nationals.
Teaching Experience: Renee
has been teaching almost
since learned how
to speak in public. She
served as a student coach
for AXIOM(speech
club) and CLASH(debate),
toured as an instructor for
Communicators for
Christ in 2004, taught at
three Masters Conferences
and nine Forensics
camps for schools such as
Santa Clara University &
Green Valley
Christian High School.
Quote: "Well, after this I
should think nothing of
falling down
stairs." -Alice in
Wonderland
Specialization: Foreign
policy & drawing.
Non-Forensics life: Whether
she's painting a series of
portraits,
playing a friendly game of
tennis or just reading a
book, Renee keeps a
busy but fun schedule. This
year she's taking a full
load of philosophy
classes, working a couple of
jobs, and is active in
Defending Human
Value, a local pro-life
club.
Note: If you ever feel
overwhelmed by the gravity
of the world, read
some Dr. Seuss. |
Kristi
Lam
Bio: Kristi competed in
NCFCA for
three years and qualified
for nationals each year. At
the 2005 National
tournament, she ranked
eleventh place team and
third place speaker. She
was also the 2004-2005
debate captain of Chicago
CHARGE. Presently,
Kristi is a junior at Olivet
Nazarene University, where
she majors in
Communication Studies and
Video/TV Production and
minors in Political
Science and Family and
Consumer Sciences.
Teaching experience: Two
years of Chicago CHARGE
novice classes and two
years of SDI. Also taught
her little sister how to
hang a spoon from
her nose.
Quote: "I don't see much
sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh
humbly, "there isn't. But
there was going to be when I
began it. It's
just that something happened
to it along the way." ~A.A.
Milne
Specialization: Meditation
on esoteric abstractions and
their
appropriate application to
analogous familiars.
Non-forensics life: Kristi
works at Starbucks and likes
it very much.
Kristi would like to inform
the health conscious that
she can make a
drink with a decaf
half-shot, sugar-free syrup,
nonfat milk, no whipped
cream or foam, and light
ice. Or just order an iced
tea. At her beloved
ONU, summer home of the
Chicago Bears, Kristi enjoys
reporting for the
campus news program and
serving on student social
committee.
Note:Come to SDI. We [still]
have cookies. [This message
[still] has
not been created, supported,
or endorsed by the official
SDI.] |
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Ryan
Stollar
BIO: Ryan has a Master of
Arts in Eastern Classics
from the Graduate
Institute at St. John’s
College and a Bachelor of
Arts in Liberal Arts
from Gutenberg College. His
interests include
comparative religion
studies, sociology of
religion (especially in
reference to American
Evangelicalism), the
communication of religious
concerns through the
media of film, the art and
craft of poetry, and the
creation of the
fine dining experience.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: Ryan
actively participated in
NCFCA since its
inception, both through
publications and hands-on
coaching. He has
edited and/or co-edited the
policy debate sourcebooks
Plethora,
Plethora Reloaded, Plethora
Revolutions, Uber-Plethora,
The Last Breath
of a Dying Plethora, as well
as two LD sourcebooks,
Murmurs of
Conscience and Quiddity.
Ryan authored an
introduction to intermediate
debate theory, Beyond Baby
Steps. He also co-authored
Coaching Policy
Debate with his parents,
Terry and Deanna Stollar.
His coaching experiences
include lecturing and
training thousands of
students across the nation
with Communicators for
Christ conferences,
Cedarville University's
Policy Debate Institute, the
University of
Oregon's Summer Debate
Institute, the Intrepid
Summer Debate Summit in
Tennessee, the Illinois
Christian Communicators
Summer Debate
Institute, and the Training
Minds Ministry
Lincoln-Douglas Debate Camp
in Colorado. He also has
provided coaching to the
following clubs:
Antithesis Mid-Valley Oregon
Debate Club, CHAOS Debate
Club of Alamo,
California, Clash San Jose
Debate Club of California,
and Rainmakers
Debate Club in Portland,
Oregon.
SPECIALIZATION: Values
debate; making words pretty;
making things taste
good
QUOTE: "There are things you
do because they feel right
& they may
make no sense & they may
make no money & it may
be the real
reason we are here: to love
each other & to eat each
other's
cooking & say it was
good." ~ Brian Andreas
“This story is about truth,
beauty, freedom; but above
all things, this
story is about love” ~
Moulin Rouge
NON-FORENSICS LIFE: Ryan has
spent the last three years
in three
different regions: Santa Fe,
New Mexico, San Diego,
California, and
Eugene, Oregon. During this
time he has worked as an
Administrative
Assistant for the Global
Education Fund, an
education-enhancement
advocacy group working for
Nicaraguan teachers; he has
fought on behalf
of increased public
transportation in Santa Fe
and Albuquerque as a
campaign assistant with the
New Mexico Public
Transportation
Association; and most
importantly, he has begun
his foray into the
specialty beverage industry,
commencing this foray with a
career in the
specialty coffee market.
Ryan has worked as barista,
shift manager, as
well as a Black Apron Coffee
Master for the Starbucks
Coffee Company in
three different states and
also had a stint managing an
independent
coffee shop and café while
residing in San Diego,
California. (Ryan
makes aprons look good.)
Ryan aims to eventually
pursue a M.F.A. in Creative
Writing, create a
new genre of poetry, write a
postmodern bedtime story for
children, as
well as one day receive an
honorary PhD in something as
of yet unknown.
But for the time being he
contents himself with eating
chocolate chip
cookie dough ice cream. |
Benjamin
Wolfson
Bio: Speech has been a
part of
Benjamin's life starting at
an early age in grade school
with drama and
speech competitions.
Starting in high school
Benjamin began his
experience in NCFCA with
Team policy debate and
speech events. He
qualified for the 2002, 2003
and 2004 National
Tournaments, placing 2nd
Place Policy debate team in
2002, 1st place Sweepstakes
Champion in
2003, and 12th Place Policy
debate team and 5th place
overall
Sweepstakes in 2004.
Benjamin competed for the
College of DuPage where
he was the 2005 Illinois
state runner-up in open
parliamentary debate,
2005 state sweepstakes
champion, 2006 state
parliamentary debate
champion, and won national
championships in
parliamentary debate,
extemporaneous speaking and
communication analysis. In
addition,
Benjamin was the head coach
for Chicago CHARGE Speech
and Debate Club,
leading the club to national
preeminence in both speech
and debate. He
attends Loyola University in
Chicago where he is
completing a degree in
finance and accounting.
Teaching Experience: In
addition to being a full
time teacher and head
coach for Chicago CHARGE,
Benjamin has had the
opportunity to teach
student's from around the
country. Benjamin has also
had the privilege
of teaching with
Communicators for Christ for
two years at numerous
conferences as well as
running debate workshops for
NCFCA policy
debaters including Masters
Conference 2003 & 2004,
Hiwassee Debate
Camp in Tennessee 2004,
Summer Debate Institute
2004, 2005, & 2006,
and the Patrick Henry
College Debate Camp 2005.
Quote: "To change and to
change for the better are
two different
things" -German Proverb
Specialization: Eating white
chocolate... and Starbucks
iced-grande-raspberry-no
whip-white chocolate mochas.
*hint hint*
Non-Forensics life: While
Benjamin misses working at
Starbucks very
much and is envious of
people like Kristi and Ryan
who still get to
have cool jobs where people
get to have fun and drink
yummy goodness,
he is happy to be working in
his field of study at Morgan
Stanley. When
Benjamin is not busy
studying or working, he
enjoys other activities
such as playing piano and
guitar, skiing, camping,
off-trail biking,
and fine tuning his multi
million dollar portfolio in
international
trade and gold mining.
Benjamin recently tried out
for the next season
of The Bachelor and will
take off a semester to be a
gentleman. Be sure
to catch this season to see
him!
Note from Benjamin: The
Summer Debate Institute is a
unique opportunity
not only to learn about
debate specific to NCFCA,
but also a week to
meet many other students and
leaders in the league as
well. I look
forward to spending time
discussing the topic, theory
and most of all
getting to know many of you
better. I hope to see you
there! |
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Jonathan
Wolfson
Bio: Jonathan has been
analyzing the costs and
benefits of decisions,
debating (mostly with
himself), and talking for a
number of years.
Sources (who refuse to be
named due to their security
clearance) claim
that he's been doing these
things for over 22 years.
Competitive
forensics entered Jonathan's
life as a result of a rather
jarring
injury and while we still
question his sanity, he's
been involved in
competitive debate ever
since. Jonathan competed in
NCFCA team policy
debate for three years and
speech for two. He helped to
found Chicago
CHARGE Speech and Debate
Club in 2002 and was the
head coach in 2003.
He qualified for the 2001
and 2002 National
Tournaments placing 2nd
Place Policy debate team in
2002 (with his little
brother) and 5th
place overall Sweepstakes.
Jonathan continued his
success in college
winning state and national
championships in
extemporaneous speaking and
parliamentary debate.
Jonathan graduate Magna Cum
Laude with an AB in
Economics from Washington
University in St. Louis in
2005 and has since
been working at the
President's Council of
Economic Advisers in
Washington, DC where he now
serves as Director of
Research Support. He
will be attending the
University of Virginia Law
School this fall.
Jonathan continues his
active role in competitive
forensics serving as
a coach for Chicago CHARGE
and other students around
the country. He is
the author of The Great
Debate and has taught at
camps nationwide.
Jonathan is probably best
known as Benjy's big
brother.
Teaching Experience: In
addition to coaching for
CHARGE and other
students, Jonathan has had
the privilege of working
with students at
camps and clinics throughout
the nation. He has taught at
Communicators
for Christ's Master's
Conference, Christian
Communicator's of
Pennsylvania's I "heart"
debate workshop, the
Christian Communicator's
of Tennessee Hiwassee Debate
Camp, and this will be his
fourth year on
staff of the Summer Debate
Institute.
Quote: "Debate is life...The
rest is just research" – Me
Although more appropriately:
"The most dangerous ideas in
a society are
not the ones being argued,
but the ones that are
assumed." - C.S. Lewis
Specialization: Economics,
and judging final rounds at
nationals, and
he can grill a great steak!
Non-Forensics life: For
Jonathan, if he's not
debating someone else, he
starts to debate himself. He
is seeking counseling for
this, but in the
meantime, he tries to read
books he keeps on his
bookshelf of rich
mahogany. He enjoys running,
fine dining, and is flying
around on his
magic carpet.
Note from Jonathan: The
Summer Debate Institute is a
wonderful
opportunity to prepare for
the upcoming debate season
in the company of
a wonderful staff and
amongst a great group of
fellow students. I count
it a privilege to come and
be a part of this camp again
this year and
look forward to assisting
students and their parents
in better
developing their
communication and
argumentation skills to use
for a
purpose. |
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