Adam debated at Greenhill for 4 years. He made it to the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) as well as elimination rounds of many national tournaments. He primarily read kritiks (Cap K, Psychoanalysis K, Humanism K, Anthropocene K, Whiteness K), policy arguments (Politics DA, Topic DAs, CPs), and started reading K Affs his senior year. Adam is very excited to share the things he have learned during high school debate and is looking forward to teaching this year at VBI!

Alice competed at 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! Now, she is an assistant LD coach at The Harker School. Her debate interests include settler colonialism, topicality, and policy debates, and she is excited to work at VBI this summer!

Allyson is a student at Georgetown University and assistant debate coach at the Harker School (CA). In her three years coaching LD, Harker students have consistently won major tournaments and received top speaker awards. Allyson was a policy debater at CK McClatchy High School where she was a 3x TOC qualifier and Quarterfinalist (2020). She loves coaching and judging both policy and LD--especially Kritiks, process counterplans, and econ DAs. Allyson has also worked as a debate instructor the past three summers and is excited for her first summer at VBI!

Anika Ganesh debated at Notre Dame San Jose for three years and was captain her junior and senior years. She qualified to the TOC 3 times, earning 8+ career bids. Anika championed the Meadows Invitational and reached late elims of Berkeley, College Prep, Loyola, Nano Nagle, Alta, etc. She also received 8 speaker awards and was the top speaker at Alta her junior year. Anika's primary interests are policy arguments, with a focus on impact turns and counterplans, and settler colonialism. She is very excited to teach at camp this year!

Walking into my Sophomore year at KU hedging a path for young academics to self express and develop new cultivating research practices. I've done policy debate for the past five years, winning the NDCA national championship, NCFL, as well as receiving the Baker award.

Carlos competed in Lincoln-Douglas for University High School (NJ) and competed in policy debate in college for Rutgers-Newark University. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Newark Debate Academy and is largely responsible for the success of all facets of Newark Debate. As a high school policy and LD debate coach at Newark Science and University HS, Carlos has coached numerous debaters to win or advance to the late elims of most major national tournaments such as Glenbrooks, Emory, Big Bronx, Scranton, Blake, Apple Valley, Greenhill, Berkeley, Yale, NDCA, Tournament of Champions, NSDA, etc. Carlos has coached various debaters across LD and Policy debate to qualify to the Tournament of Champions. As a college debate coach for Rutgers-Newark, was one of the coaches of the 2017 CEDA and NDT champions. Carlos has also coached debaters in the late elims of most major national tournaments such as UMKC, Wake Forest, Cal Swings, CEDA Nationals, and the National Debate Tournament, etc. Carlos taught at VBI in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and is returning this year for his fifth year.

Areas of Expertise: Policy Arguments, Kritik Debate, Traditional Debate, Ethos, Research

Charles Karcher is a teacher and debate coach based in Manhattan. Previously, he was awarded the Fulbright Taiwan Debate Coach/Trainer grant, for which he lived in Taipei and helped establish English debate programs in high schools around the island. Over his six years of coaching, his students have reached late out-rounds of a number of major national tournaments. His teaching specializations are philosophy, the K debate, strategy, and research methods. Charles attended VBI as a student and is looking forward to returning for his second summer of teaching.

Clare Bradley is a student and policy debater at the University of Southern California. She coaches LD at the Marlborough School in Los Angeles. Clare competed in policy debate for 4 years at Shawnee Mission South in Kansas where she finished in octofinals of the TOC and won both NCFL and NSDA Nationals. She is looking forward to teach at the VBI this summer!

Dylan Jones competed in LD debate for two years at Plano West High School (TX) and currently studies philosophy at the University of Texas at Dallas. As a competitor, Dylan qualified to the TOC senior year and appeared in elimination rounds at several competitive national tournaments. As a coach, Dylan's students have appeared in elims at multiple major nationals including Stanford, Peninsula, UT, and Churchill, as well as experiencing competitive success at the state level. Dylan's debate/research interests are primarily concerned with various creative critical literature bases, mostly focusing on poststructuralism and continental critical philosophy.

Elizabeth Elliott is currently studying Political Science and Anthropology at Wake Forest where she debates. In high school, she did LD at Isidore Newman School where she consistently reached elimination rounds of major national tournaments. Notable results each year include reaching the top fourteen at NSDA nationals as a sophomore, championing Heritage Hall her junior year, and reaching finals of Blake her senior year. She has qualified too and cleared at the TOC twice. In addition, she received ten round-robin invitations and ten career bids. Her interests in the debate include topicality, process counterplans, creative AFF writing, impact turns, and kritiks. This is her second year teaching at VBI, and she is so excited to work with students again this summer.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Su debated for Mountain House High School. During her senior year, she broke at the Tournament of Champions and reached late elimination rounds at tournaments such as Loyola, College Prep, Peninsula, and the Harvard Round Robin. Lizzie taught at VBI last year and is super excited to return as an instructor!

Ella Huang debated for four years at St. Agnes Academy. Some of her accomplishments include acquiring 8 bids to the TOC, reaching quarters of Greenhill, Nano Nagle, Apple Valley, and Harvard-Westlake, semis of Strake, finals of TFA State, and championing U of H. She also received top speaker at Glenbrooks and 3rd speaker at TOC. Her debate interests include policy-style arguments and the cap K. Ella's excited to teach at VBI this summer!

Hope Lee was a Lincoln Douglas debater for four years at Marlborough School. She qualified to the TOC her junior and senior year, co-championed the Golden Desert and Alta Silver & Black Invitationals, and consistently reached elimination rounds of major national tournaments. Hope primarily ran policy arguments during highschool, and her favorite speech to give is the 2AR. She looks forward to teaching at VBI this summer!

Iris debated in LD for four years at Harvard-Westlake, qualifying twice to the TOC and earning six career bids. Her debate accomplishments include finals of the JW Patterson invitational, semifinals of St. Marks, and quarterfinals of Peninsula and Stanford. Iris is most interested in policy-style arguments, especially foreign policy topics, but is also interested in topicality and basic philosophy. She's excited to teach at VBI this summer!

Jack Quisenberry is the Lincoln Douglas coach at Northland Christian School where he debated in high school, while also privately coaching on the side. Over his four years of coaching, his students have reached elimination rounds at the TOC, advanced to late eliminations at major national circuit tournaments, accumulated round robin invites, and won many speaker awards. Jack’s primary debate interests are theory and policy arguments. He is very excited to teach at VBI this summer!

Jacob Nails is Head Researcher at Victory Briefs. He debated 4 years for Starr's Mill High School (GA) in Lincoln Douglas debate, graduating in 2012. As a competitor, he won the Georgia state tournament, cleared at NSDA nationals, and qualified to the TOC. In college, he qualified twice to the National Debate Tournament in policy debate. Jacob has 7 years of experience coaching LD debate, including coaching debaters to top seed at the TOC, as well as Top Speaker awards at Harvard, Yale, and Bronx. He has taught at over twenty sessions of the Victory Briefs Institute.

Expertise: Policy Arguments, Research, Philosophy, Theory Debate

Jacob Palmer is a policy debater for Emory University who has found success on the collegiate circuit reading both policy and K positions. He has competed at the National Debate Tournament and in elimination rounds at ADA and CEDA nationals. Jacob currently coaches the debate team at Durham Academy, where he also debated in high school. His students have championed the NCFL grand national tournament, made it deep out rounds at NSDA nationals, competed in finals of the NC state tournament, championed TOC bid tournaments, and competed in finals at round robins. Jacob has expertise in traditional debate, policy argumentation, and k debate. He is also a VBI alum, attending the camp twice as a student.

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 any form of 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.

Kabir debated for four years at The Harker School in LD. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions his junior and senior year, and was the top seed at the TOC in 2023. He also was in the semifinals of Stanford, Berkeley, and the Glenbrooks. His favorite arguments to read and go for were impact turns. He's excited to teach at VBI this summer!

Lenox debated at Montgomery Bell Academy in Policy Debate for 6 years. He qualified to the TOC 3 times, reaching the Octafinals and Quarterfinals, as well as reaching the Semis of multiple other large tournaments. Lenox primarily works with Ks, including settler colonialism, queer/trans theory, and others. Lenox is excited to teach this year at VBI!

Lilly debated on the national circuit for 3 years for Northland Christian, and was a team captain her junior and senior years. She accumulated 5 career bids and was in 11 career bid rounds. Getting second speaker and reaching octos at the TOC, she was also invited to multiple round robins and additionally championed Durham’s Challenge and Tournament. Her debate interests focused in theory and policy arguments, while dabbling in philosophy and tricks. She now coaches for Northland Christian, and she's super excited to be joining VBI's staff this year!

Mark has coached debate for five years at Edina High School. His students have included an NSDA national champion, a coaches poll team, and competitors in outrounds of national circuit tournaments. His debate interests include kritiks of all varieties, topicality, creative plans, and traditional LD. Mark is excited for his first summer working at VBI!

Mike Bietz is one of history’s most successful debate coaches, with a career of over 25 years as a program head for Policy Debate at Apple Valley High School 1998-1999 (Minnesota); Lincoln-Douglas at Edina High School 1999-2005 (Minnesota); and the full program at Harvard-Westlake School 2007-2024 (California). He has been inducted into the Tournament of Champions Coaches Hall of Fame and a member of the Coach’s Gold Key Society at Emory University’s Barkley Forum for High School Debate - two of the most prestigious honors a national circuit debate coach can earn. He is the first and only debate coach from Southern California to receive such honors.

Mr. Bietz has coached Qualified 98 entries to the Tournament of Champions as a program director, Won 14 National Championships (2 NSDA, 2 TOC, 1 NDCA, 1 MSPDP, 8 Novice Nationals), 11 National Runners-Up (3 TOC, 3 NDCA, 5 Novice Nationals), 14 National Semi-finalists, and total of 101 National Elim Round Participants. Aside from the National Championships, his students are consistently contenders at every invitational at every level of competition, including this sampling of unique highlights: Twice closed-out the Glenbrooks Invitational, Two additional finalists; Three Berkeley Championships, 3 finalists; Twice closed-out the Greenhill Round Robin and three additional Championships; Closed out the Greenhill Fall Classic and three additional Championships; Four St. Marks Heart of Texas Championships; Four Meadows Invitational Championships; Two Harvard National Invitational Runners-up; Two Stanford Championships, including closing out in Semifinals and having 6 of 8 quarterfinalists.

Beyond being a successful debate coach, Mr Bietz is a trusted member of the community. He is a member of the Tournament of Champions Advisory Board (current) and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League (current). He has served as President of the National Debate Coaches Association, and was a board member. He also currently serves as a Tabroom staff member or event director at the National Speech and Debate National Tournament, the Tournament of Champions Digital Debate Series, The Stanford National High School Invitational, The Cal Invitational (Berkeley), the Jack Howe Invitational (CSU Long Beach), and the Trojan Invitational (USC).

Rafael debated policy for 4 years at the law magnet, and debated for the policy debate team at UTD for 3 years. They are now currently the assistant debate coach for LD and Policy for Coppell High School. While at Coppell, the team had a entries in late outrounds of TFA state and became TFA state champions. We also had teams clear or win in most national debate tournaments, such as Glenbrooks, UT, Greenhill, Grapevine, Colleyville, etc. They are currently majoring in math and studying to be a teacher. They're looking forward to be able to help debaters improve for this upcoming season.

Seth competed in policy debate for 2 years before switching to LD (for 2 years as well) at the Greenhill School. While debating, Seth made it to elimination rounds at the TOC and NDCA, along with multiple semi final rounds at national circuit tournaments like the Glenbrooks, Longhorn Classic, and Heart of Texas. As a debater, Seth primarily read both policy and critical arguments. Seth is looking forward to teaching at VBI this summer!

Temitope Ogundare debated in high school at Newark Science and then in college at Rutgers University-Newark! Her career started in 2016 in policy at Newark Science before transitioning to LD in her sophomore year. At Newark Science, Temitope was invited to multiple Round Robins, in many late elimination rounds, and qualified to and competed at NSDA Nationals in both policy and LD. At Rutgers, Temitope competed in NDT/CEDA policy, NFA-LD, Public Forum, and British Parliamentary. During her time there she championed multiple tournaments across the varying formats and worked to better the debate community such as engaging in competition with the Bard Prison Initiative. She is excited to be working at VBI and is ready to teach about, and talk through, most things under the sun!

Wyeth is a rising freshman at Harvard. She debated LD at Marlborough, where she earned 21+ bids and qualified to the Tournament of Champions three times. She has championed St. Marks's Heart of Texas, Berkeley's Cal Invitational, the California Round Robin, UNLV's Golden Desert, and Alta's Silver and Black Invitational, earning first speaker at octofinals bids like Emory's Barkley Forum and St. Marks's Heart of Texas. She ran primarily policy arguments in high school, and her favorite 2NRs to give are on the Econ DA and the Postwork K.

Tanya debated at Westridge, where she was the first-ever member in team history to qualify to the TOC. She earned 5+ career bids and consistently reached elimination rounds of every major national tournament she attended. Some of her accomplishments include championing the New York City and Alta's Silver & Black Invitationals, reaching semifinals of Nano Nagle and quarterfinals of Jack Howe, in addition to receiving multiple speaker awards at Glenbrooks, Stanford, Yale, UKSO, Harvard-Westlake, Loyola, etc. Tanya’s favorite arguments include settler colonialism, heg bad, creative process counterplans, and semiocapitalism. As a VBI alumna, Tanya's super excited to return as an instructor this summer!

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. In his free time, Vishnu loves to play table tennis, ride his bike, and chill with his dog.

Willie Johnson is the head coach of the Rutgers University Newark national championship debate team. With over 16 years of experience as a debater, coach, educator and administrator. Coaching multiple teams to qualify to the TOC, multiple state/national championships and elimination rounds, leading the 2017 NDT and CEDA champion team, multiple collegiate championships and team awards including ranking top 10 overall debate teams in the nation. As a member of the Victory Briefs family for the last few years he has worked with students teaching the important elements of progression in debate.

Areas of Expertise: Policy Arguments, Kritik Debate, Traditional Debate, Ethos, Performance debate