LOS ANGELES, CA – We’ve compiled a pretty amazing staff for Session II of VBI and we’d love to share some of them with you! Last time, we introduced you to David McNeil. Today, we’d like to introduce you to the second of our three awesome curriculum directors for Session II: Ryan Lawrence!
Beginning as a highly successful high school and college debater, Ryan has been involved in the activity for over ten years. Spending the last three as the Director of Forensics at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA, Ryan worked with over two hundred students across multiple events. He has coached debaters to a myriad of accomplishments, including late out-rounds at the California State Tournament, NFL Nationals, and semifinals of the Tournament of Champions. He has extensive experience coaching debaters for both the local and national circuits and draws on experience in multiple debate events to take a well-rounded approach to both coaching and camp instruction. As a high school debater, Ryan won the Stanford Invitational and Round Robin, placed among the top 16 seeds at TOC, and qualified to both NFL Nationals and the TOC twice. In college, Ryan was on the number one ranked parli team in the nation!
We are overjoyed to have this talented coach back with us VBI for the eleventh summer! And now for the fun stuff:
Nickname(s): RL, RyGuy, Ryan Monster, Little-Man-In-a-Big-WorldBest known for: Taking people’s money in Poker; also, playing in the World Poker Tour which had a $10,000 buy in!Special talent(s): Dancing Bhangra with Lynbrook High School’s Indian administration members and spreading joy by singing Christmas songs in American Sign Language (He’s also fluent!)Number of years at VBI: 11 YEARS [2 years as a student, 9 as an instructor]Proudest moment at VBI: Winning the VBI StarCraft Championship after beating Christian Tarsney in the final round at Session II last yearFavorite quote: “That may be true, but it is also irrelevant.” - Unknown North Vietnamese ColonelFavorite movies: "Home videos of myself," Shawshank Redemption, 12 Angry Men and CasablancaMusic: Arcade Fire ("I was listening to the Arcade Fire when DMac was in diapers!") Death Cab for Cutie, and Classic Rock
If you see Ryan at camp, make sure to be friendly and introduce yourself. Maybe if you’re extra nice, he’ll even give you a few tips to improve your StarCraft or Poker game. Excited to see you soon, Ryan!