Confirmed senior staff for 2010 TDC Summer Institute (in alphabetical order):
Josh Aguilar
Josh debated for Hays High School and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin this past year. Formerly an assistant coach at Saledo and Winston Churchill High Schools, we are excited to announce that Josh is the new Director of Forensics at McNeil High School. He returns for his second summer at TDC. Josh has also worked for several summers as a senior lab leader at UTNIF. As a coach, Josh has already accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments:
- UIL: 2010 5A LD Champion
- TFA State: 2010 LD Champion and semifinalist
- TOC: Qualified 2 students to the TOC, including an octofinalist (’10).
- Texas TOC Tournaments: champions of the Longhorn Classic (’08) and Colleyville Heritage (’10)
- NFL Nationals: coached several qualifiers
Ryan Bennett
Graduated last year from Southlake Carroll High School, Ryan now studies philosophy at SMU. Ryan currently coaches at Marcus and a student at Southlake Carroll. He has previously taught at UTNIF and the inaugural TDC. With a proclivity for running cases from the wide spectrum of critical philosophies, Ryan had great success as a debater:
- TFA State: twice out-round participant, including reaching quarterfinals.
- TOC: Two time qualifier; as a senior he earned bids from St. Marks, Greenhill (semifinals), Emory, and Harvard. He also participated in several nationally prestigious round robins: Greenhill, MBA, and Archer/VBT (2009 Champion)
- NFL Nationals: Two time qualifier and out-round participant, including a 9th place finish.
In his first year as a coach, Ryan’s students have already done quite well under his tutelage: he has helped coach a student at both Marcus and Southlake to earn their first bids, with their reaching semifinals of Grapevine, St. Marks, and Churchill, and octos of Emory.
Andrew Cockroft
Andrew graduated from Elkins High School in the Houston area, where he debated Lincoln-Douglas for four years. Despite limited ability to travel, Andrew made the most of his opportunities in Texas, and with great self motivation, he was competitive among the top national debaters. His hard work earned him qualification to the 2008 Tournament of Champions, where he finished as a quarterfinalist. He earned his TOC bids as a finalist at Grapevine and a semifinalist at St. Mark’s. He also was in elimination rounds of every tournament he attended his senior year, including Memorial and the UT-Austin Longhorn Classic. Additionally, Andrew qualified for TFA state for three consecutive years, where he cleared as second seed and finished as a quarterfinalist as a senior. He currently attends UT-Austin where he is majoring in philosophy. During his first two years of college, he has been coaching for Dulles High School and several students at Westlake High School, where he has helped debaters reach elimination rounds of almost every major tournament in Texas, including finals of Grapevine (’09) and Churchill (’10). And one of his students reached the semifinals of TFA State (’09).
Tom Evnen, Board Member of Texas Debate Collective
Graduate student in Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Formerly a coach at Hockaday, Tom currently works with the University School (FL) and is a curriculum director at the National Debate Forum. Tom was the Nebraska state champion and runner-up at the TOC. He has also coached students to tremendous success in and outside Texas:
- TFA State: qualified well over a dozen students, including the 2007 runner-up, 2008 semi-finalist, and 2009 quarterfinalist.
- TOC: in only four years, five different Hockaday debaters have placed in the top 16, including a semifinalist (’08)
- NFL Nationals: champion (’07 & ’09) and runner-up (’08)
- Texas TOC tournaments: runner-up at the 2009 Greenhill and St. Marks tournaments
Monica Ghosh
Debated for Westlake High School and attends the University of Texas at Austin.
- UIL: 2008 5A runner-up
- TFA: three-time qualifier to state, finishing in octas, won 4 of the 5 locals attended in 2009, and was top speaker at the Churchill Classic (’09)
- NFL Nationals: Qualified in 2006 and 2008
Ryan Graham
Ryan is an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin. As a debater, Ryan was in elimination rounds of numerous state and local tournaments, including St. Marks, Apple Valley, Memorial (champion), Colleyville, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas State Tournament. He qualified to State three times and to the TOC as a senior. As a first year coach at Anderson High School in Austin, Texas, Ryan’s students have competed in elimination round of some of the nation’s most prestigious tournaments, including Grapevine, Colleyville (finals in ’09), Churchill, Memorial, the University of Texas at Austin tournament (finals ’09), the Glenbrooks, and St. Marks. He coached several students to the Texas State tournament and qualified the Anderson High School’s first two students to the TOC.
Shane O’Neal
Shane debated for Strake Jesuit High School and recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. As a debater, Shane qualified to the TOC his senior year and was the champion of the Winston Churchill Classic. Shane was formerly the assistant coach of Winston Churchill and Strake Jesuit High Schools. And next year, Shane will be teaching in Houston as a 2010 Teach For America corps member. Shane has extensive experiences as a lab leader, having worked at UNT and TDC. His coaching accomplishments include
- TFA State: coached the 2010 TFA State Champion and semifinalist.
- TOC: qualified several students, including an octofinalist (’10)
- Texas TOC tournaments: coached finalists of Colleyville (’10), Memorial (’09), and a semifinalist at St. Marks
- NFL Nationals: coached several qualifiers
Devin Race
Debated for Westlake High School and attends Yale. Devin has previously taught at the National Debate Forum.
- UIL: qualified to State as a sophomore
- TFA State: four-time qualifier and three-time out-round participant, including a semifinalist as a junior and the 2009 State Champion, Top-Seed, and Top-Speaker.
- TOC: two-time qualifier, including semifinals (’09)
- NFL Nationals: 11th place (’09)
- Texas tournaments: champion of the Grapevine (’08) and Churchill tournaments (’09), and runner-up at Colleyville (’08)
Andrew Waks, Vice President of Texas Debate Collective
Andrew debated for four years at Westlake High School in Austin and currently attends New York University. He is the Co-Director of LD Debate at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City. In addition to his work at Bronx Science, Andrew volunteers with the Malcolm X Debate Program. This organization brings debate education (centered on the Public Forum style) into the high school at Riker’s Island, a major New York City prison. He has also taught at a number of summer debate institutes: the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA), the Victory Briefs Institute (Los Angeles, CA), and the Texas Debate Collective Summer and Winter Institutes (Austin/Houston, TX). As a debater, Andrew attained success at both the local and national levels. He qualified for regions in UIL as a sophomore and was a three-time qualifier and twice out-round participant at TFA State. On the national circuit, Andrew amassed five bids to the 2009 Tournament of Champions. Three of these were from Texas tournaments— Andrew was the champion of the 2009 Colleyville and Memorial tournaments, and runner-up at the 2008 University of Texas Longhorn Classic.
Kris Wright, President of Texas Debate Collective & Camp Director
Graduate student in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Currently a coach at Southlake High School, Kris also works with the students at University School (FL) and was formerly a coach at Westlake and Marcus High School. Kris is an experienced camp instructor, having previously taught at several highly regarded summer institutes: UTNIF, VBI, NDF, Championship Group, UNT’s Mean Green Workshop, and TDC. He has coached students to success in every circuit debated in Texas:
- UIL State: qualified several students, including 2008 5A runner-up
- TFA State: qualified a dozen students, including semi-finalists (’06, ’07, ’08) and the 2009 State Champion & Top Speaker
- TOC: qualified 8 students, including a quarterfinalist (’07) and semifinalist (’09).
- NFL Nationals: qualified 7 students, including two 11th place finishes.
- Texas TOC Tournaments: finalists at Grapevine (’08), Memorial (close-out in ’06, ’08), University of Texas (’08), Colleyville (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10), and Churchill (’05, ’09, ’10)
Confirmed first-year staff for 2010 TDC Summer Institute (in alphabetical order):
Carson Chalmers
Carson graduated from Marcus High School. She qualified to and broke to outrounds at NFL nationals as a junior and received a bid to the TOC her senior year. She broke at TOC tournaments, including the Longhorn Classic, Colleyville, Chuchill, and Grapevine. Carson successfully debated in all of the Texas debate circuits.
Cathy Creighton
Cathy graduated from Southlake High School. As a senior, she reached bid rounds at Grapevine, Greenhill, St. Marks, and VBT. Additionally, she was the runner-up and received TOC bids at the 2010 Colleyville and Winston Churchill tournaments. Cathy will be debating at NFL Nationals in June!
Claire Daviss
A recent graduate of Winston Churchill High School, Claire is the 2010 LD and DX TFA State Champion! She qualified to the TOC as both a junior and senior, including reaching octofinals (’10) and winning the Colleyville Heritage tournament (’10). She will be debating at NFL Nationals in June.
Daniel Lumpee
Daniel just graduated from Crowley High School. He qualified to the TOC both his junior and senior years. Daniel won the 2009 Greenhill Round Robin, and 2009 Grapevine and Memorial tournaments. He will be debating at NFL Nationals in June.
James Monaco
James debated for SF Austin and, as a senior, Westlake High School. He qualified to the TOC both his junior and senior years. James was runner-up at the 2009 Grapevine tournament, a semifinalist at TFA State (’09), and a quarterfinalist at the St. Marks tournament (’09). He also qualified and broke to outrounds at NFL Nationals as a sophomore.
Max McCready
Max graduated from Anderson High School. Max cleared at an impressive range of tournaments, including Greenhill, St. Marks, the UT Longhorn Classic, and Grapevine. As a senior, he qualified to the TOC with bids from St. Marks and the Longhorn Classic. Max’s social engagement, critical thinking, and creative challenges to common assumptions in debate make him the ultimate TDC staff member.
