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In our second "Faculty Focus" of the year we're taking a closer look at another one of our first year instructors, Michael O'Krent. This spring he will graduate from the Harvard-Westlake School, in Los Angeles, CA. Michael has attended VBI for a total of 15 weeks over the past four summers, making 2014 his fifth year at VBI.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
In our second "Faculty Focus" of the year we're taking a closer look at another one of our first year instructors, Michael O'Krent. This spring he will graduate from the Harvard-Westlake School, in Los Angeles, CA. Michael has attended VBI for a total of 15 weeks over the past four summers, making 2014 his fifth year at VBI.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
Achal Srinivasan, Adam Brown, Amun Khan, Alex Zhao, Annie Gersh, Ariel Azbel, Ashish Wadhwani, Bennett Eckert, Bo Slade, Breann Smith, Cameron Cohen, Cameron McConway, Chris Coles, Connor Engel, Danielle Dosch, Dino De La O, Felix Tan, Ishan Gaur, Jack Wareham, John Martin Weed, John Overing, Jonas Le Barillec, Jonathan Beavers, Kathryn Kenny, Kris Kaya, Kyle Fennessy, Lavanya Singh, Louisa Melcher, Morgan Grosch, Nalin Vattigunta, Nick Steele, Nina Potischman, Nisarg Shah, Noah Simon, Oliver Sussman, Parker Whitfill, Parchet Bhike, Prince Hyeamang, Raffi Pilifero, Richard Cook, Rithvik Seela, Ryan Younger, Saavan Nanavati, Sara Kaplan, Sean Fahey, Shankar Krishnan, Shivane Sabharwal, Srivatsav Pyda, Varun Venkatesh, Whitley Perryman.
Much of the innovation in contemporary LD is driven by intercollegiate debaters and coaches. This weekend is the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Championship, followed by the National Debate Tournament (NDT)—the two largest intercollegiate debate championships in the U.S. We wish the best of luck to the VBI alumni and instructors who will be competing at CEDA and the NDT. (Sorry if we missed anyone below!)Elana Quint (Arizona State), Lawrence Zhou (Oklahoma), Nicole Nave (Rutgers–Newark), and Devane Murphy (Rutgers–Newark) will be competing at CEDA Nationals. Christian Quiroz (Rutgers–Newark) and Arjun Tambe (Stanford) will be competing at the NDT, in addition to Nicole and Devane, who received first-round bids. Nicole also cleared at CEDA and the NDT last year.Carlos Astacio will be coaching Rutgers–Newark. Elijah Smith (past winner of both CEDA and the NDT) will be coaching Wake Forest.Other college policy debaters and coaches (past and present) on VBI staff include Eric Beane (Houston), Adegoke Fakorede (Rutgers-Newark), Michael Mangus (Pittsburgh), SunHee Simon-Mbong (Stanford), Nick Tourville (Minnesota), and Chris Vincent (Louisville; Louisiana State).Check out the rest of our amazing faculty.
We are excited to announce our initial faculty lists for the 2016 Victory Briefs Institute. These early lists represent a small fraction of our staff; many more instructors will be added in the coming months.
Our Public Forum instructors have won or coached winners of the TOC, NDCA, and NSDA Nationals, in addition to Blake, the Blake Round Robin, the New York City Invitational, the Bronx Round Robin, the Harvard National Invitational, the Glenbrooks, the Middleton Invitational, Villiger, the Laird Lewis PF Challenge, the Minneapple, the Hockaday National Tournament, and multiple state championships. View our current PF faculty here.
In 2015 alone, our Lincoln-Douglas instructors have won or coached winners of the TOC, NDCA, NCFL, and NSDA Nationals, in addition to the Greenhill Invitational and Round Robin, the New York City Invitational, St. Mark's, Valley, the Minneapple, the Glenbrooks, the Barkley Forum at Emory, Harvard-Westlake, the Stanford Invitational, Blake, Alta, Meadows, and Lexington. VBI 2016 instructors have also won or coached winners of the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 TOCs. View our current LD faculty here.VBI is filling up nearly twice as fast as last year. So sign up today!
Visit VBIdebate.com to sign up and to learn more about our sessions:
VBI alumni have won every major national tournament of the season. Read about why VBI is the most successful debate workshop in the country.Last year, VBI reached capacity more quickly than ever before. We had to turn away over 50 students who signed up after we hit our caps. So sign up early to secure your spot.For tuition information, click here. Sign up before January 1 for a $100 discount. Discounts for alumni and for teams sending multiple debaters, along with need-based financial aid, are also available. |
I didn't really know what to expect when I came to VBI. But I don't think that I ever expected it to be so sad to leave. I found friends and mentors and debate skills and family. I became much more confident in myself as a debater and a person. It reminded me how much I love debate and the people in it, and I know that I'll always carry what I've learned with me, debate-related and otherwise.—VBI Los Angeles student
This year we welcomed 500 students and over 100 instructors to the VBI family. It was a year of firsts for us: our ratio was better than 4-to-1 at all sessions (with an average of 3.5-to-1); we had our first Public Forum labs; and every student got to work closely with a faculty mentor. Thanks to all of you for making the past eight weeks the best VBI ever. We will never forget it.What are your favorite memories from camp?—Chris and Jake
The topics that will be used at VBI 2015 have been finalized for all locations.
Chicago will use the official September/October 2015 topic for the third week session (August 15-22)
Due to the cancelation of another program at Occidental College we have been able to secure a limited number of additional spaces for our main session. As a result, We are re-openeing registration for the main session of VBI Los Angeles. Registration will remain open until the additional spaces have been filled. This year will be the biggest year in VBI history, so we expect the additional spaces to fill up quickly. If you would like to attend our LA session you should sign-up ASAP to guarantee a space for this summer. If you are currently on the waiting list you will be receiving instructions explaining how to complete your registration very soon.
With over 230 students signed up and three months before camp, VBI Los Angeles has reached capacity faster than ever! If you're interested in attending VBI LA, please sign up for the waiting list. We will do our best to secure additional space to accommodate waitlisted students.We will let applicants off the waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis when spots become available.Some things to keep in mind:
If you've applied for financial aid, we have reserved a spot for you. We'll get back to you with a financial aid offer by the end of next week.
There is still room at VBI Swarthmore, the VBI Focus Week in LA, and the VBI Topic Prep Week in Chicago!
Waiting list priority will be given to those who wish to attend three weeks of VBI.
We’ve reached our Lincoln-Douglas cap at VBI Chicago faster than any session of VBI ever! We are, therefore, closing LD registration and opening a wait list. You can sign up for the wait list on our registration page. We expect that we’ll be able to let some students off the wait list. Priority will go to students who wish to attend VBI Chicago for three weeks. Signing up for the wait list does not require a deposit. After being admitted off the wait list, applicants will have 24 hours to accept their spot. There is still some space at VBI Swarthmore and Los Angeles, and at Chicago for the Stand-alone Topic Prep Week and in Public Forum. But all three camps are filling up faster than ever. So sign up now to reserve your spot. We will also be sending financial aid decisions in the coming weeks. We have reserved some spots for financial aid applicants whose first preference is for VBI Chicago.
Students from 17 states have already registered for VBI. Space is limited, so sign up today!
We are proud to announce that the following instructors will be teaching with us at VBI 2015. While many others have tentatively indicated they will attend, we will not advertise staff until they have actually agreed. We have listed instructors who have committed to at least one session, although most are teaching at both our Swarthmore and UChicago sessions.
Abraham Fraifeld—Coached a Walt Whitman Public Forum squad that won eight tournaments, including a closeout of the TOC; currently attends Georgetown University
Arjun Rao—Senior at Trinity Prep (FL), 1st place at the Minneapple
Christian Chessman—University of Florida Levin College of Law student, LD coach at Lake Highland (FL), won Appalachian State and Georgia State in policy, earned 11 PF bids while debating for Suncoast HS (FL)
Gavin Martin—Senior at Lamar HS (TX), Top Five at 2014 NSDA Nationals
Jami Tanner—Senior at Klein HS (TX), ranked #1 in the nation by the NSDA, most state points in Texas
Jasmine Sinanan-Singh—Senior at Trinity Prep (FL), 1st place at the Minneapple
Matthew Feng—Senior at Plano West (TX), top speaker at Grapevine, two-time Hockaday champion
Tyler Pierce—PF coach at 3P Speech, assistant coach at Natrona County HS (WY), Top Five at 2014 NSDA Nationals
More PF instructors will be announced in the coming weeks.
More students have signed up for VBI at this point than in any recent season. We are also capping each session to guarantee a 4:1 student-instructor ratio—the best offered by any camp—which allows us to have more practice debates and to give every student a mentor. So, space will be limited.
We are proud to announce that the following instructors will be teaching with us at VBI 2015. These hires only represent a small fraction of our likely staff. While many others have tentatively indicated they will attend, we will not advertise staff until they have actually agreed.
Please stay tuned for more staff announcements in the next few weeks!
Davis Labarre -- Received bids at Grapevine, Greenhill, Bronx, Apple Valley, Isidore Newman, Strake Jesuit, and Harvard Westlake
Eric Weine -- Received bids at the Mid-America Cup, Glenbrooks, and Blake
Isis Davis-Marks -- Co-Champion of Bump
Joey Schnide -- Received bids at the Mid-America Cup and Blake
Marshall Thompson -- Champion of Greenhill, Bronx, and the MBA Round Robin, coach at Torrey Pines (CA)
Michael O'Krent -- Received 7 career bids, coach at Marlborough (CA)
Ryan Fink -- 2012 NDCA Champion, coach at the Harker School (CA)
Samantha Hom -- Received bids at Ridge and Lexington, philosophy major at UChicago
Scott Wheeler -- Coach at Peninsula HS (CA)
SunHee Simon -- 2014 Greenhill Champion, member of Team USA
Tinuola Dada -- Received a bid at St. Mark's, participant at the Apple Valley Round Robin
Varun Bhave -- 2014 Bronx Champion, currently ranked #1 in the nation
The instructors above will be joining the faculty that we have already announced:
Adam Tomasi -- 2013 & 2014 TOC elimination round participant
Akhil Gandra -- Champion of St. Mark's, Grapevine and UT
Anne-Marie Hwang -- Greenhill, Valley, and Minneapple Round Robin Participant
Arjun Tambe -- 2014 TOC elimination round participant, champion of the Greenhill Round Robin and Damus
Ben Holguin -- Two-time Minneapple Champion, PhD candidate at NYU
Carlos Taylor -- Champion of the Mid-America Cup
Chetan Hertzig (curriculum director) -- Coach at Harrison (NY), coached 2014 TOC Champion
Chris Theis (executive director) -- 2008 & 2009 TOC Champion, Coach of Apple Valley (MN) and Peninsula (CA)
Christian Tarsney (curriculum director) -- Coach of the 2010 TOC champion and 2013 TOC and NSDA (NFL) Nationals runner-up, coach at Valley (IA)
Danny DeBois -- 2014 TOC Champion, coach at Harvard-Westlake (CA)
Jackson Lallas -- Runner-up at 2014 Glenbrooks
Jake Nebel (executive director) -- Coach of the 2013 TOC champion, two-time champion of Greenhill and Glenbrooks
Lawrence Zhou -- 2014 NSDA (NFL) National Champion
Leah Shapiro -- Top seed of the 2013 TOC, Champion of the Mid-America Cup and the Hockaday Round Robin
Michael Bogaty -- Champion of the 2014 Minneapple
Nick Smith -- Coach at Hopkins (MN)
Rebecca Gelfer -- 2014 TOC elimination round participant, Champion of the Minneapple Round Robin
Rebecca Kuang -- 2013 TOC and NDCA Champion, coach at Clements (TX) and Greenhill (TX)
Shania Hunt -- 2013 Greenhill Champion, coach at Northland (TX) and Harvard-Westlake (CA)
This summer, VBI is offering eight weeks of camp at three amazing locations: Swarthmore College, Occidental College, and the University of Chicago. Unlike previous summers where each VBI location has been run separately, all three VBI 2015 sessions will offer the same rigorous curriculum and individualized instruction designed to help meet your goals.Many students choose to attend multiple VBI sessions over the summer. Here are some of the reasons to do that this year:1. Lab advancement. We guarantee that if you attend multiple sessions of VBI, you'll be in a more advanced lab at subsequent sessions. This will help you maximize your progress this summer.2. Curricular differentiation. Attending multiple VBIs allows you to work with different instructors, to attend different electives, and to hear ideas from different guest lecturers. If you've already attended a given curricular item at a previous session (e.g., the core philosophy seminars), you can place into more advanced offerings for Repeaters at subsequent sessions.3. Location diversity. If you attend multiple VBIs, you'll get a taste of different college environments: it's important to experience the environment of a large research university, such as UChicago, and the setting of a liberal arts college, such as Swat or Oxy, before deciding where to apply or go to college.4. Multicamp discount. Signing up for multiple VBIs may be less expensive than doing a single VBI plus another camp. If you sign up for two VBIs, you'll get a discount of $250. If you sign up for three (not for the faint of heart!), you'll get a discount of $600. (If you've already signed up for multiple camps, we'll email you to get you the discount shortly.)Sign up now to reserve a spot. Pay in full by February 15 for an additional $100 discount.
VBI alumni have achieved unprecedented competitive success over the past decade. They have won
VBI alumni have also been Top Speaker at the TOC six times and at the NDCA six times. They have even won national championships in other events: they have won the NCFL championship in extemporaneous speaking and both the national championship and national final round in both international and domestic extemporaneous speaking.More recently,
In the year 2014, VBI alumni won the following national tournaments (with VBI closeouts marked with *):
We don't claim to make champions. But VBI is where champions choose to go. Here's to a great 2015!Sign up now to reserve a spot at VBI 2015. Pay in full for a $100 discount.
The Victor Jih Scholarship pays for some or (in exceptional cases) all of the cost of VBI. Scholarship availability is extremely limited and may be tied to particular sessions of VBI.Victor Jih, founder of Victory Briefs, debated for Leigh High School, where he won the California Invitational in LD. He graduated from Stanford at the age of 20 while coaching at Palo Alto High School. He attended Harvard Law School and is now a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he specializes in entertainment and media litigation. He was named a "Top 40 Minority Attorney Under 40" by the National Law Journal in 2011 and has co-taught the Ninth Circuit Appellate Practice Clinic at UCLA. He coaches debate at Brentwood School in Los Angeles and has also coached at the Archer School for Girls. He and his sister Tammy Jih won the 14th season of the Amazing Race. This scholarship honors Victor's accomplishments, his dedication to debate, and his leadership at Victory Briefs.Scholars will be in Top Lab, will serve as peer mentors for younger debaters while at camp, and will have the opportunity to teach an elective at the end of camp, under the guidance of a faculty member. They will also be given early consideration as an instructor for subsequent sessions of VBI.The scholarship criteria are as follows:
Although this is a "merit" scholarship, most of our financial aid is need-based. To apply for need-based financial aid, click here. Scholarship applications are due February 1, 2015. We recommend that scholarship applicants still sign up for camp now to reserve a spot.
