Faculty
Board of Directors
*All of our directors also serve as instructors at our institute.
Tom Evnen
Tom is a graduate student in Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Formerly a coach at The Hockaday School (Dallas, TX), he currently works with the University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and is a curriculum director at the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA). As a debater, Tom was the Nebraska state champion and runner-up at the Tournament of Champions (TOC). As a coach, Tom’s students have achieved tremendous success inside and outside of Texas. He has qualified well over a dozen students to TFA State, including a 2007 runner-up, 2008 semi-finalist, and 2009 quarterfinalist. Tom has coached seven different students to the top 16 at the TOC, including quarterfinals (’06, ’08, ’11) and semifinals (’08, ’11). He coached the champion of NFL Nationals in 2007 and 2009, and the runner-up in 2008. Tom has also coached finalists of numerous TOC tournaments, including Dowling Catholic (’11 close-out), Greenhill (’09, ’11), St. Marks (’09), Apple Valley (’11), and Valley (’11). His students have also won the Florida State championship in LD the past 3 years, including a close-out in 2012.
Devin Race
Devin debated for Westlake High School (Austin, TX) and is currently an undergraduate student at Yale University. He was an assistant coach at Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, FL). In only his first year coaching, one of his students advanced to outrounds of the Tournament of Champions. Devin has also previously taught at the National Debate Forum (Boston, MA). As a debater, Devin had numerous successes on many different circuits. Devin was a four-time qualifier and three-time outround participant at TFA State. He was a semifinalist in 2008 and the 2009 State Champion, Top-Seed, and Top-Speaker. Devin qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice, reaching the semifinals in 2009. He placed 11th at NFL Nationals in 2009, and qualified to UIL 5A State as a sophomore, in 2007.
Andrew Waks
Andrew debated for four years at Westlake High School in Austin and currently attends Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA). He was the Co-Director of LD Debate at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City from 2009-2011. There, he coached three students to the Tournament of Champions, and coached the champions of the Yale Invitational, Scarsdale, and Princeton. In addition to his work at Bronx Science, Andrew volunteered 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, the Victory Briefs, and every TDC to date. 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. He was also captain of the NYU Policy Debate team in 2011.
Andy Werner
Andy is a PhD philosophy student at the University of Chicago. He debated for four years at Strake Jesuit (Houston, TX), during which time he qualified for the TOC twice, won TFA state and Blake, and led the Strake team to be first in the nation.
Since graduating high school, he has coached students to win NFL nationals, to final at St. Mark’s and Greenhill, and to semifinal at the Tournament of Champions.
Kris Wright
Kris Wright holds a BA in Philosophy and Government, and a MA in Gender Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a 2010 Teach for America corps member, who works full-time as a high school teacher in Dallas, TX. Kris has coached at Southlake Carroll, University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Westlake (Austin, TX), and Marcus. Kris is an experienced camp instructor, having previously taught at a number of debate institutes, including VBI, NDF, and, of course, every TDC camp to date. He has coached students to success in every circuit debated in Texas. He coached the 5A runner-up at UIL State in 2008. At TFA State, Kris’ students have reached semi-finals (’06, ’07, ’08, ’11) and was the 2009 State Champion & Top Speaker. Kris’ students have aslo qualified to the Tournament of Champions, including a bubble-round contestant (’05), a quarterfinalist (’07), and a semifinalist (’09). And he has qualified 7 students to NFL Nationals in LD, including two eleventh-place finishes. In Texas, he has coached finalists in LD at Grapevine (’08, ’10), Memorial (close-out in ’06, ’08, ’09), University of Texas (’08), Colleyville (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10), Churchill (’05, ’09, ’10), and St. Mark’s (’10).
Confirmed 2012 Senior Staff
Isaac Bloch
Isaac attends Yale University and will graduate this year. He debate for Berkeley Carroll and qualified for the TOC. Since graduating, he has served as a coach for Berkeley Carroll, where his students have had tremendous local and national success. Isaac has previously taught at VBI.
Andrew Cockroft
Andrew currently studies philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. During his three 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), Churchill (’10), and Colleyville (’12). And one of his students reached the semifinals of TFA State (’09) and was the TFA State LD champion (’12). He 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.
Joan Gass
Joan is a senior at Yale University. She debate for the Hockaday School and achieved competitive success in a wide range of circuits: Joan reached semi-finals of TFA state. She also qualified to the TOC three times and reached outrounds twice, including semi-finals as a senior. She was also the runner-up in LD at NFL Nationals (’08). She has previously taught at VBI.
Monica Ghosh
Monica currently studies in Plan 2 at the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught at every TDC program since the organization’s inception. She debated for four years at Westlake High School (Austin, TX). There, she was the 2008 5A runner-up at UIL State. She was also a three-time qualifier to TFA State, finishing in octas her senior year. She won four of the five local TFA tournaments she attended in 2009, and was top speaker at the Churchill Classic (’09). She also qualified to NFL Nationals in 2006 and 2008.
Patrick Graham
Patrick is an undergraduate at Reed College. He debated for Southlake Carroll High School, where he served as team captain his senior year. Patrick successfully competed on both the national and local circuits: He broke at TFA State three consecutive times, reaching the semi-finals his senior year. Patrick also qualified to NFL nationals once in LD and the TOC twice. During his senior year, Patrick competed at the MBA and Harvard Round Robins, and was runner-up at the Grapevine and St. Marks tournaments.
Emily Massey
Emily debated for four years at Walt Whitman High School in Maryland, where she is currently an assistant coach. She qualified twice to the TOC. During her senior year, Emily was top speaker and a semifinalist at Greenhill, closed out finals of Bronx, won third place at the MBA Round Robin, and broke at each of the seven TOC-bid tournaments she attended.
Shane O’Neal
Shane is currently a 2010 Teach for America corps member, teaching bilingual 1st grade at an inner-city school in Houston. He is a recent graduate of the University of Texas, where he earned a BA in Government and Spanish. In high school, Shane debated for Strake Jesuit College Prep in Houston. As a debater, Shane competed successfully on both the local and national circuits, including qualifying to TFA State three times and to the TOC his senior year. As a junior and senior, Shane broke at a wide-range of national tournaments and won the competitive Churchill Classic. After graduating high school, Shane coached Winston Churchill High School and his alma mater, Strake Jesuit. Shane qualified numerous students to TFA State, including a 2010 semi-finalist and the 2010 State Champion in LD! He has qualified numerous students to NFL Nationals and the TOC, including an octo-finalist (’10). Shane brings a wealth of teaching experience to TDC—experience he has gained from working half-a-dozen debate camps, coaching multiple nationally successful debate programs, and being a full-time teacher. His recent work with 1st graders has been particularly useful in managing the behavior of rambunctious high school students at camp!
Tyler Sullivan
Tyler is an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin. He debated for four years at Salado High School, in the Austin area. He was a two-time octafinalist at TFA state and qualified to the TOC as a senior, receiving bids at St. Marks and Churchill. He also qualified twice to UIL state. He currently coaches Westlake High School, where his students have reached outrounds of TOC qualifying tournaments, including the UT tournament where one of his students earned a bid this year. Tyler has previously taught at TDC and UTNIF.
Graham Tierney
Graham is currently studying at Carleton College (Northfield, MN). He competed successfully on both the local Iowa circuit and on the national circuit in high school.
He won the Iowa Caucus tournament and was in out-rounds of major tournaments such as Greenhill, Valley, Apple Valley, Blake, and Emory. He also was invited to the MBA round robin and cleared at the TOC senior year. Graham has previously taught at TDC and NDF.
Becca Traber
This year Becca will graduate from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She will enter graduate school in the fall at Yale University, where she will pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science. She currently coaches for the College Prep School in Oakland, California and her students have reached late elimination rounds at several tournaments, including finals at Meadows and winning Alta. She has coached four students to qualify for the TOC. In addition, Becca has also worked at many fine summer institutions, including Victory Briefs, NDF, and the Championship Group. In high school, she debated for four years at the Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas and attained both local and national success. She qualified for TFA state three years and got to the finals in her senior year. In addition, on the national circuit, she qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice–in her senior year alone, she attained 8 bids. During her junior and senior years, she won Grapevine, University of Texas (twice a finalist), Houston-Memorial, Bronx, and the Berkeley tournament. And her senior year, she also reached the finals of the TOC and TFA State.
Confirmed First-Year Instructors
Kelsey Annu-Essuman
Kelsey is a senior at Law Magnet, where she debated for four years. She will attend Yale University in the fall. During her time in debate, Kelsey successfully competed on the local and national circuits. She was invited to the Greenhill Round Robin (’11), cleared at several national tournaments, and was in outrounds of TFA State.
Emily Bao
Emily is a senior at the Hockaday School, where she debated for four years, and will be attending Dartmouth College in the fall. She competed successfully on both the local and national circuit, clearing at several national tournaments including Harvard, St. Marks, Grapevine, Valley, and Wake Forest. She qualified for TFA State three times and cleared both her sophomore and senior years. Emily previously attended TDC as a student and we are thrilled that she wants to return toTDC as a teacher this summer!
Kay Dannenmaier
Kay is a senior at the Hockaday School, where she debated for four years and served as team president her final year. She competed successfully on both local and national circuits, qualifying to state three times and clearing at several TOC qualifying tournaments. Additionally, she was invited to the Vassar round robin her junior year. Kay will attend Stanford University in the fall. And we are very excited that Kay is joining the TDC staff this summer!
John Heizelman
John will graduate from Strake Jesuit in 2012, where he debated for four years. John competed successfully on both the local and national circuits. He qualified to TFA State 3 times, TOC twice, and NFL Nationals as a senior. As a senior, he amassed 7 TOC bids at some of the most competitive tournaments across the country. He and a teammate closed-out the Grapevine Tournament (’11), where he was top speaker. He reached the semi-finals of the Geenhill tournament. John also reached semi-finals of TFA State (where he was coached over). He was also invited to the Greenhill, MBA, and Kandi King round robins, placing second at Kandi King. He previously attended TDC as a student and we are thrilled that he is returning this summer as a teacher!
Brian Hodge
Brian is a senior at Cypress Falls HS in Houston, where he debated for four years. As a debater, he experienced success on both local and national circuits. He qualified to the TFA State tournament 4 times, reaching elimination rounds his junior and senior years. In addition, he received a bid to the TOC his sophomore and junior years, and fully qualified with 3 bids his senior year. He was a quarterfinalist at Berkeley, runner-up at St. Marks, and championed the Houston-Memorial tournament. In the fall, Brian will be attending the University of Texas at Austin, where he’ll be pursue a BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Amyn Kassam
Amyn is a senior at Dulles High School in Houston, Tx. He debated for four years and achieved great local and national success. As a junior, Amyn reached semi-finals of Greehnill and outrounds of many other TOC qualifying tournaments. As a senior, he cleared at every TOC tournament he attended, was runner-up at Colleyville, and is the 2012 TFA State Champion in LD! Amyn attended a TDC institute before his junior year and we are glad to have him back this summer as an instructor!
Michael Kohm
Michael is a senior at Southlake High School, where he debated for four years. Michael succeeded on both the local and national circuits, having broken at several national tournaments. Michael has attended several TDC institutes and we are delighted that he is returning this summer as a teacher!
