Miha Andrič is a globally recognized coach in communication, speech & debate, and critical thinking based in Slovenia, Europe. He has background in philosophy and sociology. With experience spanning over 40 countries—including the USA, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa—he has trained students, teachers, and professionals worldwide. He has served as the Program Director of more than 20 international debate academies, as Chief Adjudicator at over 50 international debate tournaments, and as the national team WSD debate coach for several countries, including Slovenia and Turkey. For 10 years, he was the director and head coach of the Bežigrad Debate Program, which was, at the time, the most successful school debate program in the world. He has also served as the Director of the National Debate Organization of Slovenia and as a Board Member of multiple international organizations, including IDEA (International Debate Education Association).

Beyond debate education, Miha is actively involved in philosophy—serving as a convenor and board member at the International Philosophy Olympiad—as well as in corporate communication and critical thinking training. He is excited to bring an international perspective to the camp and is looking forward to learn from students that always inspire him with their ideas.

Brandon is the Speech and Debate Program Director at Burbank High School in Burbank, CA, and has been coaching competitive speech and debate for 15 years. In 2022 and 2023, Brandon was the coach of the back-to-back NSDA World Schools Debate National Champions, West Los Angeles Violet. His World Schools Debate teams have championed the Jack Howe Invitational (Cal State Long Beach) for the past three years, and have reached elimination rounds and won speaker awards at invitationals at Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and many others. He has also coached numerous students to elimination rounds at the CHSSA State Tournament, the TOC, and NSDA Nationals in other events. He currently serves on the board of the California High School Speech Association and the NSDA West Los Angeles District Committee, and was recognized with a NSDA District Leader Commendation for Excellence in Leadership and Tournament Administration in 2024. He is excited to join the team and see everyone at Occidental College for Worlds at VBI this summer!

Jon-Carlo Canezo is the head coach at St. John's School. He works with teams across Houston and the country to help them get started in debate, along with qualifying numerous individuals to the Tournament of Champions. He is coaching a student that is currently on Team USA Dev.

For the past 5 years, he has run a free camp for Houston kids who are competing at the NSDA National Tournament; in which nearly every team who attended the camp have made it to the elimination rounds.

Poorvi is a senior at Flower Mound High School and has competed in World Schools for three years. During her time competing in the event, she has reached deep elims at multiple big tournaments including championing TFA State in 2024 (9th speaker), championing the Grapevine Classic in 2023, championing the Longhorn Classic in 2024 (4th Speaker) and making it to the semifinals of the inaugural WSD division at TOC. Additionally, Poorvi has been a member of Team Texas for two years now and has championed the Greenhill Fall Classic (5th Speaker) and made semis of both the Blake and Isidore Newman Tournaments. She ranks among the top 20 debaters nationally for WSD and also competes in both Congressional Debate and International Extemporaneous Speaking, earning national recognition in both categories. Her achievements include reaching NSDA semifinals, placing 6th at State, being awarded Astounding Presiding Officer, and qualifying for NIETOC multiple times. Aside from debate, Poorvi loves writing, shopping, hanging out with friends and going down YouTube rabbit holes. She is so excited to be teaching debaters in LA this summer!

Arjun is a senior at Flower Mound High School, the captain of his school's team, and member of Team Texas. During his 3 year career, he has achieved notable success including championing TFA State 2024, the Longhorn Classic, Isidore Newman, Plano West (2x), Jasper, and Grapevine (2x) while also top speaking, reaching semifinals at the TOC, quarterfinals at Berkeley, and semifinals at Greenhill and making out rounds at NSDA. He has also received recognition in Congress, Oratory, Informative, and Domestic Extemp placing 7th at UIL State in Congress, and quarterfinaling TFA in DX. In his 3 years of competition he qualified for TFA State (3x) in 4 events (WSD, Info, OO, DX), for NSDA in 2 events (WSD, Congress), for NIETOC (2x) in 3 events (Extemp, OO, Info), for the TOC in Worlds, and for UIL State in Congress.

Outside of debate, he enjoys watching pretty much any sitcom, listening to music, and hanging out with his friends. If he's not competing, you can probably find him trying new foods or drinking iced coffee! He is excited to work with new students and debaters at camp this summer!!!

Wilhem Reichmeider competed in World Schools Debate at Grand Oaks High School, where he was an active member of the team throughout high school and served as President in his senior year. He is ranked 50th in the nation by the NSDA, is a 4x qualifier for TFA State, was a National Qualifier in the East Texas District, and placed 20th out of 200 teams at the 2024 NSDA Nationals. Notable achievements include being one of the top 15 individual speakers at TFA State, 1st place team at the University of Miami International Debate Tournament, and 8th top speaker at the 2024 UT Longhorn Classic. A proud member of Team Texas, he helped alongside the team to sweep the Greenhill Fall Classic, beating out Team USA and making history. He is thrilled to join the VBI team this summer to help empower the next generation of debaters!

Jeremy Starkweather earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University South Bend in Secondary English Education with a certification in English as New Language. He has served eight years in the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. In 2022, he completed his Master’s of Science degree in Secondary English Education from Indiana Wesleyan University. In 2024 he was awarded the PHM Secondary Teacher of the Year.

Starkweather leads the schools Speech and Debate team as the head coach, a program that he has been a part of, either as a student, instructor, and director for 10 years now. His passion for Speech and Debate stems from his own experience, as an Indiana State Champion in Policy Debate back in 2013. In 2024, he led his debate team to the state championship and the speech team to a runner up finish, both of which are the first in the program’s 40+ year history. He has coached state champions in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, and World Schools, in addition to State Runner Ups in all five debate events. Every year since taking over the program, he has been able to have students qualify for the National Tournament, most recently coaching the Northwest Indiana Gold World Schools team to the semi-final round. He is an enthusiastic educator with a passion for World Schools Debate, and is looking forward to the experiences that this year's summer camp has to offer.

Effie was on the Coppell Speech and Debate Team for 4 years. While she started out in Public Forum, she transitioned to World Schools towards the end of Sophomore year and became ranked 53rd nationally according to the National Speech and Debate Association Rankings. She was a finalist at the 2023 Longhorn Classic at UT Austin, semifinalist at the inaugural Tournament of Champions for World Schools, semifinalist and 4th speaker at the 2023 Greenhill Fall Classic, and semifinalist and 7th speaker in World Schools at the 2023 Grapevine Classic. In addition to her time in World Schools, she also competed in the 2023-2024 International Public Policy Forum competition, with her team qualifying for the Elite Eight round held in New York. She's now an incoming second-year at the University of California, Irvine, and is looking forward to teaching her students about everything she knows and loves about debate!