Devon is the Director of Public Forum at Victory Briefs. Devon graduated from New York University in the winter of 2017 as a Politics major with a double minor in Philosophy and History. At NYU he was a semifinalist of the Global Debate Competition, and served as the VP of the school’s American parliamentary debate team for two years. Devon has been involved with Public Forum Debate for about 9 years, competing at Suncoast High School in Florida, and coaching since then. In addition to working freelance with a number of teams around the country, Devon was the head Public Forum Debate Coach at Byram Hills High School for three years, coaching the school’s first-ever TOC qualifiers. Devon currently coaches Poly Prep Country Day School. Additionally, he coached the 2019 NSDA national champions and over the course of his career, teams he’s coached have advanced to late outrounds at a variety of tournaments like CFL Nationals, TFA State, TOC, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Lexington, and the Sunvitational.

Kate Selig is PF curriculum director. She debated for The Bromfield School in Massachusetts, where she co-captained the team. Competitively, she top-spoke at Yale, was the first debater from her school to qualify to the TOC, and was the furthest advancing womxn debater at NSDA Nationals in 2019, placing 10th overall. She is currently studying philosophy and political science at Stanford. She coaches at Saratoga High School and Potomac Debate Academy, and her students have obtained 12 bids to the TOC.

Martand Bhagavatula debated for Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim, California. Across his career, he was ranked as high as first in the nation, qualified to the California State Tournament and the TOC twice each, and reached elimination rounds at 15 tournaments, accumulating 8 bids in the process. Most notably, he reached finals the University of Kentucky Season Opener, finished 2nd and was 6th place speaker at the Emory Round Robin, was 2nd place speaker at the Jack Howe Invitational, and tied for 2nd speaker at ASU. As a captain of the team leading the nation in bids during the 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 school years, Martand has instructed and built up several high-caliber teams, and is elated to do the same at VBI!

Inko Bovenzi debated for Hunter High School in New York City. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice and reached outrounds his junior year. He has reached late elimination rounds in several varsity tournaments, including championing Columbia, finals at Yale, quarterfinals at UK, Millard North, and Glenbrooks, and semifinals at Scarsdale. In addition, he was 8th speaker at Harvard, 3rd speaker at UK, and 7th speaker at Scarsdale. During his senior year, he was ranked first in the country. Inko is very excited to be working at VBI this summer!

Bilal Butt is the Assistant Director at Charlotte Latin School in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the past, he has helped coach North Carolina State Champions, Laird Lewis Champions, George Mason Champions, and closed out the Yale Invitational. He has also had students finish as Finalists or Semifinalists at NCFL Grand Nationals, the Harvard Invitational, the Blake Tournament, the Blake Round Robin, Wake Forest Invitational, the New York City Invitational, the Barkley Forum at Emory, the Sunvitational, and the Glenbrooks.

Sabrina Cai debated at Mission San Jose High School in California for four years, serving as the PF captain her senior year. During this time, she amassed six gold bids to the Tournament of Champions. She reached quarterfinals at the UK Season Opener, semifinals at SVUDL, and closed out La Costa Canyon. In addition, she has reached elimination rounds at tournaments like Bronx, Apple Valley, and Berkeley. Sabrina is very excited to be working at VBI this summer!

Danny Cigale debated for Byram Hills in New York and Lincoln Sudbury High School in Massachusetts, where he amassed 9 bids to the Tournament of Champions, reached finals of the Tournament of Champions (2019) and won NSDA Nationals (2019). Now, Danny coaches debate at Stuyvesant High School in New York and studies psychology and sociology at New York University.

Parker debated for three years at Brentwood High School in Tennessee, serving as co-captain his senior year. He qualified to TOC thrice, amassing five gold bids and reaching late outrounds at several top tournaments, including NSDA Nationals. He championed several tournaments, including Villiger 41, the Tennessee State Tournament, and VBI’s 2019 Philadelphia session. He also received speaker awards at tournaments like the UK Season Opener, the Milo Cup, and the Ivy Street Round Robin. He attended VBI the summer before his junior year and is thrilled to return as an instructor!

Tyler Katz debated for North Broward Prep in Florida, serving as captain of Public Forum for three years. Over his career, he earned 12 gold bids to the TOC, reaching quarters of the tournament as a senior. Notably, Tyler championed Cypress Bay and Nova Titan, finaled Blue Key, and semifinaled Emory, ranking as high as 1st in the country his senioy year. Individually, he won numerous speaker awards at tournaments including Blake, Emory and Sunvitational. Tyler was twice invited to the Ivy Street RR, championed the Cypress Bay RR, and semifinialed Blake RR. Tyler also won the Florida State Tournament in Policy, where he was 4th speaker. As a coach, he is in charge of Public Forum at the Quarry Lane School and also private coaches Ardrey Kell, where he's qualified multiple teams to the TOC. He is thrilled to return to VBI this summer!

Ben Kirsch is a senior at Hackley in New York, where he debated for four years and served as captain. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice, amassed seven bids, and was ranked third in the country senior year. He won Apple Valley and Byram Hills, semifinaled Blake and UK, and reached late outrounds at many others. He also has experience coaching, working with local summer camps throughout high school. He is very excited to work at VBI this summer!

Renee Li debated competitively for four years, completing her career as a captain at Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas. She has qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions, amassing three career gold bids, in addition to qualifying for the TFA State tournament three times. Renee placed 8th at NSDA Nationals in her junior year, and her other notable achievements include co-championing Grapevine and breaking to elimination rounds at Bronx, UK, and Yale. She has also received invitations to the Blake, Strake, Capital City, and Harvard round robins. She looks forward to working with students at VBI!

Jason Luo debated for Westlake High School in Texas, competing in mostly Public Forum Debate. His notable accomplishments include becoming the first Public Forum debater from Texas to reach finals at the Tournament of Champions, cochampioning Bronx, top speaking Harvard, and quarterfinaling the prestigious Coolidge Cup. He also joined the USA Debate national team to compete in World Schools Debate, recently finishing top 8 at his first international tournament, the European Open.

Serena Mao competed for 4 years in Varsity PF for Mission San Jose in Fremont, California. Throughout her career, she's attended the TOC thrice, amassing 9 career bids. Outside of competing herself, she's been coaching elementary, middle, and high schoolers in both the middle school public debate format and PF since sophomore year. She attended VBI twice throughout high school and is excited to return as an instructor this summer!

Lizzie McCord debated for four years at Hunter College High School in New York. As a competitor, she was ranked as high as eighth in the country. She acquired eight career bids to the Tournament of Champions, reached quarterfinals of Big Bronx (2015, 2016), finals of the Lexington Invitational (2017), co-championed the Princeton Invitational (2015), and broke at the 2016 ToC. Lizzie was an assistant coach for St. Mary’s Hall in San Antonio TX from 2017-2020. During this time her teams cumulatively acquired eight TOC bids, won two tournaments, and reached late outrounds at Bronx, ASU, and Emory. She is a currently a senior at Harvard University studying history.

Henry Nomeland competed as captain of Public Forum for Lakeville South High School. His senior year he accumulated five gold bids to the Tournament of Champions and consistently ranked among the top five teams in the country. Notable accomplishments include championing Yale, making it to finals at the Strake Round Robin, semifinals at Dowling and Michigan, and Quarters at UK and Jack Howe. He has made it to break rounds over a dozen times, won tournaments outside of the National circuit, and picked up multiple speaker awards. Henry is extremely excited to instruct at VBI this summer!

Alyssa Nie competed for Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas where she served as the PF captain of her team in her senior year. Throughout her high school career, she has debated at numerous elimination rounds at national tournaments like Bronx, Grapevine, UK, and NSDA nationals. Notably, she has championed the Harvard Tournament and reached semifinals at TFA State as a junior. She is excited to teach at VBI this year!

Yukiho Semimoto debated for Edgemont High School for 5 years, serving as the captain of her team. Competitively, she qualified to the TOC twice and reached quarterfinals at Harvard and Emory. In the past year, she has coached Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, Potomac Debate, and Team Platinum, with her students finaling tournaments like Glenbrooks and championing several others, and amassing a total of over 10 gold bids. Yukiho is very excited to work at VBI this summer!

Krithika competed in Public Forum and Extemp in Austin, Texas. In high school, she competed in late out-rounds of tournaments such as University of Texas, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Bellaire, ASU, Dowling and the International Tournament of Champions. Her senior year she championed the Grapevine Classic tournament (top speaker with perfect speaker points), Colleyville Heritage tournament and the Myers Park Invitational and has been ranked as high as #1 in the nation. She now competes for the Rice debate team in parliamentary debate and is ranked #8 in the country. She is excited to return to VBI as an instructor!

Andy Stubbs is the debate coach at St. John's School. He competed in Policy debate and advanced to late outrounds at NSDA Nationals twice and received a speaker award there in 2007. Andy has coached debaters into invites to the Stanford, Berkeley, Strake, and Kandi King Round Robins, as well as reaching late outrounds at NSDA Nationals and being ranked as high as tenth during the competition season. He also works with the Houston Urban Debate League and the Harris County Department of Education's CASE Debates initiative to bring debate to schools across Harris County.

Zoe Spicer debated for four years at Charlotte Latin School in North Carolina as co-captain of her team in her junior and senior years. She reached finals at the Yale Invitational, quarterfinals at Harvard, and advanced to elimination rounds at tournaments including Princeton, Emory, the New York City Invitational, Florida Blue Key, and the University of Kentucky Season-Opener. She also competed at the TOC and has been ranked as high as 4th in the nation. She is super excited to work for VBI this summer!

Alex Watson (they/them) competed in Public Forum for three years at Hawken School in Cleveland, OH where they received 5 bids to the tournament of champions. Most notably, they reached semifinals at Glenbrooks and Blue Key, quarters at Bronx, and broke at Yale, Apple Valley, Stanford, Emory, and Durham. In their senior year they received invites to the Blake, Strake, Ivy Street, and Durham round robins. They have also earned numerous speaker awards (most notably second speaker at Stanford and third at Blue Key), and have been ranked as high as third nationally by NDCA. At the state level, Alex placed fifth at OSDA state finals in their Junior year. Out of round, they serve as Tournament Outreach Coordinator for Beyond Resolved, aid in coaching their team’s underclassman, and provide equity and norms education to their team. Alex attended VBI the summer before their Junior year and is excited to return as an instructor!

Daniel Yan debated for four years at University School in Ohio, serving as captain his senior year. During his career, he qualified three times to the Tournament of Champions, amassing 11 gold bids and reaching elimination rounds in both his sophomore and junior year. He has reached late elimination rounds at Yale, Blake, ASU, Bronx, and championed the Cavalier Invitational at Durham Academy. Individually, he received speaker awards at Yale, Glenbrooks, Durham, and was ranked 1st in the nation. He is very excited to work at VBI this summer!

Xuechen Yin debated for five years at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. She has accumulated five bids to the Tournament of Champions, attending as early as her sophomore year. Xuechen has also qualified for TFA State four times and reached elimination rounds at NSDA Nationals. Most notably, she co-championed Bronx and was 6th Speaker at the TOC. She has reached late elimination rounds, been first seed, and amassed speaker awards at countless tournaments, including Glenbrooks, Apple Valley, Grapevine, and TFA State. She’s excited to work at VBI!

JJ Yu debated for the Dalton School in New York City for six years. During his time in high school, he has been ranked as high as first in the nation and accumulated nine gold bids. His recent achievements include co-championing the University of Kentucky Season Opener and the Sunvitational. He has also received top-5 speaker awards at the tournaments like the Princeton Classic, Minneapple, Blake, Georgetown, and the Tournament of Champions. As a captain of his team, he has extensive experience coaching younger debaters to success from the novice to varsity level. He is very excited to work at VBI this summer!