Cale McCrary is the Director of Public Forum at VBI. Cale has been teaching high school debate for 9 years, currently for Magnolia Debate and Del Norte HS. Formerly, Cale served as Director of Speech and Debate at Westlake High School (2023) and Corona del Sol (2020). In PF, Cale’s teams have accumulated over 70 bids to the Tournament of Champions, with championships at tournaments like the New York City Invitational, Arizona State University Invitational, Barkley Forum at Emory, Grapevine Classic and Golden Desert UNLV Tournament.

Ryan Love is the Assistant Director of PF at VBI, and the Assistant Coach at Dripping Springs High School. Ryan debated for 3 years at Dripping Springs and 3 years at the University of Houston. In high school he was a TOC finalist, and UIL state champion in congressional debate, a TFA state semifinalist in Domestic extemp, a UIL state qualifier in CX, and an NSDA qualifier in PF. In college he represented UH’s varsity policy team at NDT districts, CEDA nationals, and numerous other regional and national tournaments. As a coach, Ryan has helped coach PF,CX, LD, World Schools, and congressional debaters to local, state, and national success. He has also judged out-rounds in PF at prestigious tournaments such as Harvard, Churchill, and Grapevine. With over a decade of experience in debate Ryan prides himself on keeping his thumb on the pulse of PF. As such Ryan loves coaching debaters to develop a diverse debate skill set, adapt to a variety of judges, actualize their endless potential, and most of all find their voice in debate. He is super excited to return to VBI for all sessions!

Aumrita debated at Fairmont Prep for 4 years, serving as captain her junior and senior year. During her career, she earned 15 gold bids to the Tournament of Champions and championed eight tournaments, including Berkeley, the California Round Robin, NDCAs (2x), Golden Desert, and more. She is excited to coach at VBI this summer!

Michi Synn has debated for Canyon Crest for the past four years, amassing 22 bids to the Tournament of Champions as well as 24 top 20 speaker awards (2 of which were at TOC!) She has been competitively successful as both a first and second speaker, and she is especially well versed in lay debate, analytical rebuttals, and organization in the summary speech. In her free time, Michi loves thrifting and playing the New York Times word games every night. As a two time VBI alum, Michi is so excited to coach at VBI this summer!

Ali debated for three years at Canyon Crest, where he captain his junior and senior year. Over the course of his career, he championed Arizona State and La Costa Canyon (‘23), reached finals at Golden Desert, semifinaled La Costa Canyon (‘24) getting second speaker, quartered at Blake, Berkeley, and Apple Valley, broke at NSDA Nationals, qualified to Gold TOC twice, and was ranked as high as 6th in the nation. Ali enjoys both lay and technical argumentation, and has experience coaching at Outreach Debate. As a former VBI student who loved camp, he is incredibly excited to teach this summer!

Jason debated at Strake Jesuit, where he served as a team captain. As a debater, he earned 27 bids to the TOC, qualified all four years, and was ranked as high as #1 in the nation. He won multiple national tournaments, including the TOC, Glenbrooks, Yale, Sunvite, Blake, Lexington, Grapevine, Laird Lewis, UH, and the Harvard RR. He also earned 1st speaker at Glenbrooks and Emory (2x), 2nd speaker at Bronx and Sunvite, and 3rd speaker at UKSO (2x). Jason has extensive experience coaching and working with teams, and he's thrilled to work at VBI this summer!

Kayte debated for four years at The Nueva School in public forum. In her 4 years of competing, Kayte reached outrounds at the UK Season Opener, Glenbrooks, Emory, Arizona State, and Bronx. Kayte is particularly obsessed with kritiks, lay debate, and theory. With eight gold bids to the Tournament of Champions in her senior year, she’s thrilled to share her passion for Public Forum at VBI this summer!

Jason Zhang has debated for 4 years for The Kinkaid School where he served as the co-captain of his debate team. During his career, he has amassed 11 bids to the TOC, making him a 3-time TOC qualifier. Noticeably, he has also co-championed Katy Taylor, semi-finaled the Cal Round Robin and Minneapple (2x), and quartered TFA state and Lexington. He has also top-spoked Blue Key, second-spoke Lexington, and garnered speaker awards from many other national tournaments. Jason is from a rather small team, so he is proficient in maximizing the resources around him to give everyone the best debate experience. He enjoys the flexibility that PF brings, happy to research unique progressive arguments with lay/flay experiences to complement it. Jason is ecstatic to coach at VBI this summer!

Hannah debated for 4 years at Flower Mound High School. She has 8 bids to the TOC, 2 extemp bids, and has made outrounds at 11 nat-circuit tournaments, TFA State (3x qualifier), and NSDA Nationals (2x qualifier). Throughout her career, she has coached dozens of debaters at her high school as a team captain. Hannah specializes in substance debate, has attended debate camp as a student, and is excited to work this summer as an instructor.

Ben debated for Durham for three years where he achieved extensive success both on the local and national level. Most notably, he was the 2024 NSDA National Champion, runner-up in 2023, semi-finalist at the 2023 Gold TOC, and back-to-back NC state champion. On the national circuit, Ben achieved a top—10 national ranking for back-to-back seasons, was the champion of Princeton, Yale, Duke, and the King Round Robin, and amassed over 10 gold bids. This is his second year working at VBI and he’s incredibly excited to work with you this summer!

Vivian debated for four years at Ridge High School in New Jersey, competing in PF her junior and senior year. During this time, she obtained 7 career bids and has been ranked as high as 6th in the nation. She has won/reached deep elimination rounds at UPenn, Bronx, Princeton, Harvard, Glenbrooks, and more. She has also won numerous top 10 speaker awards including top speaker at Princeton and 6th speaker at Harvard. Aside from PF, she semied NSDAs in World Schools in her sophomore year and competed with the USA Development Team in her junior year. As a coach, her students have reached semis at Bronx and FBK, quarters at Penn, Harvard, and Princeton, and invited to the Harvard Round Robin. She is excited to return back to VBI this year and work with everyone!

Bailey debated for four years at Southlake Carroll where he served as the Co-President of Speech and Debate. He has amassed a total of 9 bids to the Tournament of Champions in his career, qualifying three times and reaching the semifinals of Silver TOC his junior year. Additionally, he has attended NSDA Nationals twice, placing 6th as a sophomore and winning as a junior. Other notable achievements include, championing CSU, semifinaling UT, and getting speaker awards at TFA state, TOC, and Glenbrooks. Outside of debate, Bailey enjoys playing basketball and reading lightnovels.

Leon Wang debated for Richard Montgomery High School in Maryland for four years. Throughout his career, he attained 13 bids and qualified to the Tournament of Champions four times. Leon has notably top spoke the Harvard Round Robin, competed at the Florida Blue Key Round Robin, made elimination rounds at numerous national tournaments—among them Glenbrooks, Emory, Harvard, and Princeton—and received a plethora of speaker awards from tournaments such as Villiger, Florida Blue Key, and Sunvite. Leon enjoys everything from analytical speeches to progressive argumentation, and is beyond ecstatic to work at VBI this upcoming summer!

Dessie debated for Bergen Tech in New Jersey for two years, serving as co-captain of the debate team. During her time competing, she earned 6 bids to the Tournament of Champions, qualifying to the TOC twice. Notably, she reached quarterfinals at Harvard and Season Opener, octofinals at Harvard in 2024, competed in the Harvard Round Robin, and reached outrounds at various other tournaments. She enjoys everything from lay to progressive argumentation and has experience being both a first and second speaker. Dessie is excited to work with everyone at VBI this summer!

Shreya has debated at The Dalton School for 4 years and has been a Public Forum co-captain for the past two years. Competitively, Shreya has earned a gold and 3 silver bids to the Tournament of Champions, and has reached octofinals at the Harvard Invitational and the New York City Invitational and has qualified to the NSDA Nationals. Shreya enjoys working on back half strategy, analytic drills and researching new arguments. She is so excited to join the VBI community this summer!

Will currently works as a PF consultant for Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. As a debater, Will competed for 4 years at LC Anderson High School. He semi-finaled TFA State as a sophomore in 2018, qualifying for state all 3 years of his PF career. He went on to attend the TOC twice, earning 5 career bids. His senior year he reached late outs at Bellaire and Emory, finaled the Longhorn Classic, co-champed Grapevine, and closed out the Churchill Classic. After graduating high school in 2021, Will quickly transitioned into an educator in the debate space, working as a junior lab leader at NSD Texas and senior lab leader at VBI LA. For the past 4 years, he has consulted here-and-there, and has judged prolifically on both the national and local Austin circuit. A long-time advocate for progressive argumentation and technical debate, Will is excited to share his expertise and help out at VBI again this summer!

Anna debated for three years at Del Norte where she served as the Co-President of Speech and Debate and Co-Captain of the Public Forum team. She has advanced to out rounds at tournaments like ASU, UK, Columbia and La Costa and received numerous top 10 speaker awards. Notably, she qualified to states her junior and senior year and qualified to Gold TOC as a senior. She's thrilled to be working at VBI this summer!

Cameron debated at Winston Churchill for 4 years, serving as the captain of the PF team. Peaking at 5th in the nation, he earned 5 bids to the Tournament of Champions, reaching the late out-rounds of tournaments like Grapevine, the Glenbrooks, Marist, UT, and Berkeley. As an instructor, Cameron is specializes in technical debate, whether it be kritiks, counterplans, impact turns, etc, so don't be shy to ask him anything!

Charlie Yang debated at Kinkaid for 4 years, attending the TOC 3 times and earning 10 career bids. Notably, he won the prestigious VBI LA camp tournament, co-championed Katy Taylor, and reached the semifinals of Apple Valley (twice) and the California Round Robin. He also quarterfinaled Lexington and TFA State, and octofinaled ASU, Berkeley, and Bellaire, earning various speaker awards along the way. Charlie has experience with all forms of argumentation, from local lay debates to fast, technical K rounds. After attending VBI twice as a debater, he's excited to coach this summer!

Chenjia has been debating for three years at Del Norte High School in San Diego and served as the captain of the Public Forum team his senior year. Throughout his career, Chenjia has advanced to late elimination rounds at tournaments like ASU, UK, and La Costa. Notably, he qualified to states his junior and senior year and Gold TOC as a senior. He looks forward to teaching at VBI!

Spencer Burris-Brown is currently a student at the University of Minnesota. He competed in Public Forum for four years in high school and has coached at Bergen Debate Club for the last three years. As a competitor, he placed in the top 20 at NSDA Nationals, got multiple bids to the Tournament of Champions, and made it to semifinals at the Minnesota State Tournament. Spencer has expertise in both technical and traditional/narrative-style debate. As a two-time VBI alumni and instructor for the past two summers, Spencer couldn't be more excited to return!