LD Faculty and Staff
2024 Staff List
Joshua Adegoke
Joshua is a rising Sophomore at Rice University who 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 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.
Grant Brown
Grant Brown debated for three years at Millard North High School in Omaha, Nebraska graduating in 2017. During his career he was in elimination rounds of the NSDA National Tournament twice and qualified thrice to the Tournament of Champions, reaching semifinals his senior year. Grant has been an Assistant Coach at the Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida for six years and he is now the Head Coach at the Brearley School in NYC, New York. Grant will be pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at Villanova University in the Fall.
Isaac Chao
Isaac is a teacher and debate coach in Houston, Texas and has been in education since 2015. As a coach, Isaac works with policy, LD, and WS debaters. He has spent the past 10 years coaching students who compete through the Houston Urban Debate League and other local and national circuits, while prioritizing financial accessibility: his program has never charged fees so all students compete for free. Isaac's debate interests include creative disad/counterplan combinations and working through higher-order debate concepts (including critical literature) with students. This will be his 9th summer at TDC and his 5th round as administrator!
Amanda Ciocca
Amanda holds a dual B.A from Florida State University in Women Studies and Media Communications and she is currently is pursuing a Master's Degree in Women Studies. She graduated from West Broward High School in 2019, competing in Lincoln- Douglas. She specializes in critical literature with a focus on feminism, queer theory, Latine/x lit, hauntology, and ecocritical literature. She is a published creative writer and still is heavily involved in debate, specifically on the Texas circuit. She's had students qualify to the TOC, make it to late elims of tournaments like Strake Jesuit and Harvard, and consistently earn speaker awards. Her non-debate related hobbies include: taking care of her tortoise, watching Studio Ghibli movies, painting, and turning her room into a personal plant nursery.
Nathaniel Council
Nathaniel Council is the current President of the Texas Forensic Association starting his second two year term. He is also the coach of speech and debate at Pampa High School. He has coached for 17 years coaching state champions in Congress and LD, as well as state finalists in Poetry and Extemp. Council has served as a topic writer for NFHS Policy debate topic and has twice been nominated as secondary teacher of the year for the Texas Speech Communication Association and has been honored by the UIL with its Sponsor Excellence Award. He has attended the TDC teachers institute on three occasions.
Tavia Gabrysch
Tavia Gabrysch was a policy debater in high school for 4 years. Their debate interests include performance and kritikal identity affirmatives. Tavia has a bachelor's degree in English from UT Austin, with dual minors in Pre-Health Professions and Philosophy. This fall, she will be 1L law student at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where she plans to focus on civil and human rights law. Outside of debate, Tavia enjoys Sanderson and Austen novels, videogames, and theatre. This is their third year as an administrator at TDC, and she's excited to be back!
Evan Gilbert
Evan was a policy debater at the JBS Law Magnet and UT Dallas where he specialized in both policy and critical arguments. Evan currently works with the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance to help revitalize debate in DISD.
Anshul Gulati
Anshul competed at McNeil High School in LD for four years, graduating in 2023. They were a flexible debater, reading various policy, kritikal, and theory oriented positions, and qualified to the TOC twice with four career bids. They will be attending UT Austin this fall for Computer Science.
Joel Henson
Joel Henson was an LD debater for four years at Lincoln North Star in Lincoln, Nebraska. They will be joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's NFA-LD team. He has been to TDC 3 times, and is excited to return!
Benjamin Hoover
Ben debated for Lincoln East High School for 4 years. He won various tournaments, including their state tournament, and obtained 4 career bids competing at the TOC both his junior and senior year as well as winning district student of the year. He’s a flex debater who mostly reads the Kritik, especially performance, and theory while occasionally reading larp or tricks positions. He’s most familiar with Non-T and T borderlands, queer pess, and set col. Outside of debate, he loves finding new music, reading, and going to the lake. He’s the co-founder of the Latine and Hispanic Debate Foundation and is planning to study Biochemistry at UNL next year!
Lindsey McNamara
Lindsey debated for William T. Dwyer high school for 4 years in LD as a lone wolf, graduating in 2017. She also competed for University of Florida’s policy debate team where she also received her bachelors degree in Psychology. Throughout her high school career, Lindsey made it to elim rounds at Yale and Harvard as well as it to bid rounds at Crestian, Blue Key, Emory, and Sunvitational- receiving 1 bid her Senior year. She also qualified for both NSDA and NCFL nationals all 4 years, making it to elim rounds her junior and senior year. Lindsey debated with both traditional and progressive styles focusing on philosophy and K debate. This year is her first year at TDC and she’s excited to teach at TDC this summer!
Matthew Matuszeski
Matt debated 2 years at Millard North High School in Omaha Nebraska and after graduating in 2017 debated 1 year of NFA LD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Matt has since coached LD at Millard North and Lincoln high school. While there he has had students qualify to the TOC and NSDA Nationals. Matt has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Kelley Moore
Kelley holds two BAs in Philosophy and in English with a concentration in Writing and Rhetoric and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the University of North Texas. She is currently the Debate teacher for New Tech High School at B.F. Darrell in Dallas ISD where she additionally teaches AP Lang. Kelley has attended TDC for 2 years in the teacher’s institute and is very excited about teaching at TDC this year.
Jeremy Moussoli
I debated in LD for 3 years at Lincoln East high school and graduated in 2024. Broken at and won/cochamped national circuit and Nebraska circuit tournaments, qualifying for the TOC my senior year. Specialized in critical positions such as Afropess, Cap K, and puar also dabbled in performative and LARP positions. Going to UNL and majoring in civil engineering, I enjoy going on drives, runs, and the gym in my free time.
Jesse Nguyen
Jesse has been an assistant coach at Lincoln East for two years. They have competed for three years in LD debate at Lincoln High and one year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Their primary interests are queer theory, critical race theory, and particularly, the intersection of the two. Jesse would love to study, explore, create innovative arguments, share sorrows and excitements, reflect over old and new critical literature with students.
Elijah Pitt
Elijah Pitt competed for four years at Fort Lauderdale High School, graduating in 2020. Throughout his debate career, he cleared at multiple national tournaments, reaching finals at Princeton and Florida's state tournament in 2019. Outside of debate, Elijah enjoys playing video games, watching films, and trips to the outdoors. This is his second year teaching at TDC, and he's excited to be in Austin this summer!
Eric Schwerdtfeger
Eric Schwerdtfeger holds a BA in English and a MEd in Curriculum Development and Instruction from Texas A&M University. He currently serves as the Director of Debate for Dulles High School (formerly Westside and Magnolia) and is going back to teaching AP Psychology and AP Research after two years teaching English III. His students have achieved notable successes at events such as TOC, NSDA Nationals, TFA State, UIL State, and HUDL City Championship. He frequently serves as a judge for both Houston locals and on the national circuit. Eric enjoys policy arguments, kritiks, philosophy, and controversies of debate theory. Beyond debate, Eric enjoys reading, hiking, board games, exercise, cooking, and spending quality time with his family.
Kafi Ummatul
In the past I debated for Challenge Early College HS for 3 years beginning my sophomore year. At the moment I am studying at UH as a political science major with a philosophy minor and am on the pre-law track. This is my first year instructing at TDC, however in the past I have attended both the LD and Teachers institute.
Alice Waters
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 topicality, policy debates, and settler colonialism. She is excited to work at TDC this summer!