LD Faculty and Staff
2024 Staff List
Coming Soon!
2023 Staff List
Nine Abad
Nine Abad is the Vice President of the University of Houston Honor's Policy Debate Team, where they are a double major in Political Science and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a minor in Leadership Studies. This summer, Nine was one of two debaters nationally selected to represent the United States at the Committee on International Discussion and Debate's Japan Tour. Nine is also an assisstant coach for Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas, where they have helped qualify and coach students to successful state and national performances and appearances.
Joshua Adegoke
Joshua debated for Challenge Early College High School which has an extremely small and underfunded debate program but managed to make a name for himself on the circuit. He has been a part of the activity for a while and loves to give back to the community. He has made it to a few Bid rounds including the 2023 Emory & Stanford tournament being an octofinalist. He has also qualified for the TFA (Texas Forensic Association) State tournament twice and finished his 2023 season as an Octofinalist. He specializes in the K, primarily focusing on Non-T and T Afropess, Afro Optimism, Afro-futurism, Security, and the Cap K. Excluding debate, loves to research and learn new things/do new activities.
Allison Aldridge
Alli competed for The Woodlands High School LD team for three years, graduating in 2021. During their time competing they read mostly queer theory, phil, theory, and qualified for TFA state twice. Alli is now studying philosophy and spanish and will be returning to TDC this summer for the third time as an instructor.
Alex Baez
Alex has been involved with debate for over 12 years! Debating in middle school, high school and College at the University of Texas at Dallas. He's debated in various formats and has dabbled in different argumentation styles and theories. His main focus has been policy debate and identity arguments. He's also very involved with his community in Dallas, where he is a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens(LULAC) and is a former Vice-President for Youth in Oak Cliff. He's in the process of bringing Community-Advocacy-Debates(CAD) and Debate en Español to Dallas while attempting to join the efforts of local law schools, LULAC, and Dallas Urban Debate (DUDA).
Rhea Biswas
Rhea debated for Dulles High School for four years, graduating in 2022. Her debate interests include kritikal feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonialist literature, as well as T-framework and performance. She is currently studying foreign affairs and art history at George Washington University, and is excited to return to TDC as an instructor this year!
Grant Brown
Grant Brown debated for three years at Millard North High School in Omaha, Nebraska graduating in 2017. During his career he was in elimination rounds of the NSDA National Tournament twice and qualified thrice to the Tournament of Champions, reaching semifinals his senior year. Grant has been an Assistant Coach at the Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida for six years and he is now the Head Coach at the Brearley School in NYC, New York. Grant will be pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at Villanova University in the Fall.
Isaac Chao
Isaac is a Geography teacher and debate coach at Heights High School in Houston, Texas and has been on staff since 2015. At Heights, Isaac coaches policy and LD debate. He is proud of building an organization that competes both through the Houston Urban Debate League and other local and national circuits, while prioritizing financial accessibility: the Heights program has never charged fees so all students compete for free. Isaac's debate interests include creative disad/counterplan combinations and working through higher-order debate concepts (including critical literature) with students. This will be his 8th summer at TDC and his 4th round as administrator!
Sebastian Cho
Sebastian Cho is a rising sophomore and debates policy at Wake Forest and coaches LD. He also debated LD in high school and is interested in critical arguments. He's thrilled to work at TDC this year!
Armaan Christ
Armaan is a second-year out attending Texas. Back in high school, they broke to elimination rounds at various TFA locals and natcirc LD tournaments such as Emory, University of Houston, Colleyville, Plano West, etc during their senior year. They were the first debater from Midlothian High School to qualify to TFA State, and reached the highest ever record from Midlothian High School at TFA State, achieving top 40 as a Triple Octafinalist. Armaan currently debates for Texas, and won 1st at the UMN Classic in JV. Armaan is flexible with the arguments they read both during high school and college, but tends to specialize in Settler Colonialism and South Asian literatures read within debate. For LD, Armaan would primarily debate theory, K, and policy, as well as philosophy interactions with Utilitarianism and Kant. They are excited to instruct at TDC this summer!
Amanda Ciocca
Amanda holds a dual B.A from Florida State University in Women Studies and Media Communications. She graduated from West Broward High School in 2019, competing in Lincoln- Douglas. She specializes in critical literature with a focus on intersectionality, hauntology, and chicana literature. Her students have championed JV Grapevine, FCDI States, qualified to the TOC (LD 2020, LD 2021, Extemporaneous Speaking 2023), and she has consistently had PF and LD students clear elims this season. Her non-debate related hobbies include: taking care of her tortoise, watching Studio Ghibli movies, painting, and turning her room into a personal plant nursery.
Ben Duong
Ben debated for Houston Memorial High School for 4 years where he qualified for TOC and TFA his junior and senior year. He has 6 career bids and has competed in the Greenhill, Harvard Round Robin, and Kandi King Round Robin. Ben mainly read theory and tricks but also has experience with philosophy and policy. He has also been judged by Isaac Chao 8 times, never once losing his ballot. In Ben’s free time he likes playing basketball, going to the gym, and thrifting.
Tavia Gabrysch
Tavia Gabrysch was a policy debater with Heights High School for 4 years, serving as Captain and Treasurer her senior year. As a debater, Tavia qualified for HUDL City Championships twice, UIL State, TFA state twice, and NSDA nationals. Her debate interests include performance and kritikal identity affirmatives. Tavia is currently a rising senior at UT Austin as a pre-law English major. Outside of debate, Tavia enjoys Sanderson and Austen novels, videogames, and theatre. This is her second year on staff at TDC, and she's excited to be back!
Evan Gilbert
Evan was a policy debater at the JBS Law Magnet and UT Dallas where he specialized in both policy and critical arguments. Evan currently works with the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance to help revitalize debate in DISD.
Lily Guizatouillina
Lily debated at Binghamton University for the past year where she qualified to the NDT and reached CEDA outrounds. In high school, she was team captain where she consistently reached outrounds on the national circuit. She primarily reads kritikal and theory arguments but has experience in most styles. Outside of debate, she’s studying Mathematics and Philosophy and enjoys painting. She’s excited to return to TDC this year!
Anshul Gulati
Anshul competed at McNeil High School in LD for four years, graduating in 2023. They were a flexible debater, reading various policy, kritikal, and theory oriented positions, and qualified to the TOC twice with four career bids. They will be attending UT Austin this fall for Computer Science.
Michael Harris
Michael is a math teacher and debate coach at San Marcos High School in San Marcos, Texas. Michael loves teaching and helping students do more of what they like in debate. Michael's debate interests include theory, argument interaction, crystallization, and case writing. This will be his 13th summer at TDC and he's very excited about returning!
Joel Henson
Joel Henson was an LD debater for four years at Lincoln North Star in Lincoln, Nebraska. They will be joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's NFA-LD team. He has been to TDC 3 times, and is excited to return!
Suhani Jampala
Suhani Jampala debated for Newman Smith HS for four years and will be attending UT Austin this fall for Computer Science and Psychology. During her career, she qualified for the Tournament of Champions her junior year along with reaching elimination rounds at tournaments including the Longhorn Classic, Peninsula, ASU, UH Cougar Classic, and Alta. As a debater, she enjoyed reading small plan affs and k-leaning affs.
Graham Johnstone
Graham is a rising sophomore at Stanford who frequently judges tournaments in the Bay Area and the occasional online tournament. As a debater, he primarily read critical and policy arguments, debating for two years at Vestavia Hills and acquiring two bids his senior year.
Kyren Khairah
Kyren debated for Clements High School for 4 years, qualifying to the Tournament of Champions his senior year, receiving bids at Harvard and St. Marks. He also competed on the local circuit, clearing at TFA state his sophomore and junior year and reaching finals at UIL state. Kyren was a flexible debater in high school, specializing in policy positions, kritiks and tricks.
Cassandra Lizardi Morales
Cassandra (any pronouns) is a return TDC staff member and former student of both the camp and Kris Wright. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at UTD and a Master of Arts in Education with a focus in social studies at Berkeley. Cassandra's commitment to education is fueled by her own personal experiences as a low-income student and child of immigrants growing up in the West Dallas projects and her passion for debate is fueled by the urgency for development of critical thinking and communication skills within the United States.
Matthew Matuszeski
Matt debated 2 years at Millard North High School in Omaha Nebraska and after graduating in 2017 debated 1 year of NFA LD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Matt has since coached LD at Millard North and Lincoln high school. While there he has had students qualify to the TOC and NSDA Nationals. Matt has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Yara Mustafa
I debated for 4 years at Mcneil Highschool, and graduated May 2023. I loved philosophy, but I love learning about different styles of debate as well. I'm so excited to work at TDC this year, and I am grateful to give back to the community.
Vishnu Nataraja
Vishnu did Lincoln-Douglas at Dulles High School for 4 years. He qualified to the TOC his senior year with 10 bids. He also qualified to TFA State 3 times. He won the Mid America Cup, Finaled the University of Houston, Made semis of the TOC and the Glenbrooks, and was in late eliminations at St. Marks, Harvard, Strake Jesuit, and Greenhill. Vishnu mainly read theory and philosophy arguments, and was judged by Isaac Chao 8 times! (4-4 overall record) Vishnu loves to play table tennis, ride his bike, and chill with his dog. He is a two-time TDC alumni and is super excited to return!
Jesse Nguyen
Jesse has been an assistant coach at Lincoln East for two years. They have competed for three years in LD debate at Lincoln High and one year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Their primary interests are queer theory, critical race theory, and particularly, the intersection of the two. Jesse would love to study, explore, create innovative arguments, share sorrows and excitements, reflect over old and new critical literature with students.
Elijah Pitt
Elijah Pitt competed for four years at Fort Lauderdale High School, graduating in 2020. Throughout his debate career, he cleared at multiple national tournaments, reaching finals at Princeton and Florida's state tournament in 2019. Outside of debate, Elijah enjoys playing video games, watching films, and trips to the outdoors. This is his second year teaching at TDC, and he's excited to be in Austin this summer!
Rafael Sanchez
I debated policy for 4 years at the law magnet, and debated for the policy debate team at UTD for 3 years. I am now currently the assistant debate coach for Coppell High School. While my time at Coppell, we had a teams at outrounds of the TOC and have won TFA state. I am currently majoring in math and studying to get a teachers certification.
Eric Schwerdtfeger
Eric holds a BA in English and a M.Ed. in Curriculum Development and Instruction from Texas A&M University. He is currently the Director of Debate for Dulles High School (formerly Westside and Magnolia). He has taught English II and III, as well as AP Psychology and AP Research. His students have made late elimination appearances at TOC, TFA State, UIL State, and HUDL City Championship, among others. He is a frequent judge at Houston locals and on the national circuit. His personal research interests include Marxism, psychoanalysis, cybernetics, and post-structuralism. This will be his third year teaching at TDC, and he looks forward to studying with everyone.
Vishal Sivamani
Vishal ("Vaish") Sivamani (they/she) is a 3rd year student at Johns Hopkins studying Public Health and Africana Studies with a minor in Economics. They debated CX/LD for 4 years at Coppell High School and afterwards worked as an independent coach for two years, coaching their kids to late-elimination finishes and speaker awards at tournaments such as UT, Peninsula, Colleyville, Grapevine, Emory, Berkeley, CPS, Lexington, TFA, and the ToC. When not doing debate, they enjoy reading, trans advocacy, going to the gym, listening to music, and eating great food with friends. They're excited to contribute as an instructor to TDC this summer!
Ananta Wadhwa
Ananta Wadhwa debated for Scarsdale High School for four years, serving as captain her senior year. She coached at several camps, including NSD and TDC, and she coached a few independent students who had great competitive success. Her debate specialties include theory and framework debate. She thinks debate can teach a lot of amazing, portable skills; she is excited to come back to TDC to help create an environment for students to do so. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and Musicology. She will be attending medical school this coming school year.
Lydia Wang
Lydia debated for 4 years at Sammamish Highschool earning 6 career bids to the Tournament of Champions, and qualifying to NSDA Nationals 3 times. She finalled the UK Season Opener, cleared at several bid tournaments, and was invited to the Harvard and Harrison round robins. She was a mentor for Peptalk debate, Asian debate collective, as well as the LD squad captain for Interlake. Throughout her career, she primarily read policy positions (Politics DA, process CPs) and critical arguments (Marxism, Settler Colonialism, Orientalism, Baudrillard and more). In her spare time she enjoys listening to rnb, rap, playing valorant, and going to the gym. She's excited to meet everyone and teach at TDC!
Alice Waters
Alice competed for Heights High School for four years in policy and LD and qualified to TFA state and the TOC. She was also a Houston Urban Debate League debater! Her debate interests include settler colonialism, topicality, and LARP debates, and she is excited to work at TDC this summer!