WDI Staff


Policy

Jenny Heidt Jenny Heidt is the Director of Debate at The Westminster Schools. She is the coach of the 2002 and 2005 winners of the Tournament of Champions, 2007 TOC finalists, 2007 NDCA Champions, and the 2007 top speaker at the TOC and NDCA. She debated at Macalester College where she was a semifinalist at the CEDA national tournament and two time NDT elimination round participant. She previously coached at Emory University and is a current member of the 7-week faculty at the Michigan Univeristy Debate Institute.

Christine Malumphy is currently a first year law student at Berkeley School of Law. She was a semifinalist at the 2005 National Debate Tournament, and as a college debater at Harvard University, Christine advanced to elimination rounds at every major national tournament and was a two-time receipient of a First Round At Large Bid to the National Debate Tournament. Christine has previously worked at Michigan State, Gonzaga, Wake Forest, and Stanford.

Greta Stahl is the Director of Debate at Michigan State University. As an undergraduate, she debated for MSU, where she won the National Debate Tournament in 2004. She is very excited about participating at the 2007 WDI and supporting the goal of bringing more women into debate!

Tara Tate is the director of debate at Glenbrook South High School (IL). Her teams have earned numerous national debate awards, including NCFL Champion, top speaker at the Tournament of Champions, and finalists at the 2006 TOC. She was the 2002 Acolyte Award winner, given to the top high school assistant debate coach in the country. She is currently the President of the National Debate Coaches Association and serves as the state debate commissioner for the Illinois Speech and Theatre Association.

Linda Collier is Director of Debate at the Barstow School. Before joining Barstow's faculty in 2004, she coached/directed the UMKC debate squad to four national championships. Originally from Iola, Kansas, Linda holds both Communication Studies and Juris Doctorate degrees from UMKC. She established DEBATE-Kansas City, a project to return high school debate to the urban school districts of Kansas City, in conjunction with the Open Society Institute in 1998. She is the 2003 5th Annual Rebecca Galentine Coaching Award winner from the Cross Examination Debate Association.

Carly Wunderlich debated in high school for four years at Brookfield Central High School in Wisconsin. She is currently about to enter her third year of debate at Michigan State University. As a member of the MSU debate team, Carly has reached elimination rounds of both the NDT and CEDA Nationals.

Grace Saez debated 3 years in policy at Silverado High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is currently the debate team captain at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and is an assistant coach at Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, WA.

Dev Majkut loves debate and seeks to empower women of all ages and experiences in the activity. She debated four years at Sehome High School in Bellingham, WA and was a two-time qualifier to the National Debate Tournament. She is currently a student and debater at Fairhaven College-Western Washington University.

Aleava Sayre debated policy at Lewis & Clark College, completed her law degree and currently works as an associate at Leonard, Street and Deinard, where she focuses her practice in administrative and environmental law. She also coaches policy debate in Minneapolis, Minnesota at South High School, which is a member of the Minnesota Urban Debate League.

Dr. Rae Lynn Schwartz-DuPre is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Her research interests include rhetoric, feminist postcolonial theory, and critical cultural studies. She debated policy at the University of Vermont, and coached at Vermont, Wake Forest University, and the University of Iowa.


Lincoln Douglas


Jessica Beckett won a state Lincoln-Douglas debate championship and qualified for nationals while debating at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Washington.

Rebecca Sivitz debated for four years at Bainbridge High School in Washington State. While debating she won numerous tournaments including the Washington State LD championship. She now debates for Brandeis University where she is a Politics and Gender Studies double major, and last year was ranked one of the top ten novices in the country.


Past Years' Staff


Kate Shuster was the keynote speaker at the first WDI in 2001. Kate debated for Emory University where she was the second woman in history to win the National Debate Tournament in 1996. She is currently earning a PhD in Educational Studies from Claremont Graduate University and is a founder of the Middle School Public Debate Program, the largest and fastest growing debate outreach program in the US.  Kate is an outspoken advocate for debate and the benefits it can bring students.

Bridgett Johnson debated policy at Puyallup High School in Washington state where she was one of the top female speakers at the 2004 State tournament. She currently debates at UMKC, where she has been ranked in the top 3 speakers nationally at the JV level. She also is the assistant policy coach at Paseo High School in Kansas City, MO.

Leah Storer is the 2007 student representative for WDI. She has debated Lincoln-Douglas for four years at Sehome High School in Bellingham, WA and was WDI's LD Scholar in 2006.

Leah Castella debated for four years at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon, where she was a quarterfinalist and third place speaker at the 1995 CEDA Nationals. She attended law-school, and is now a senior associate at McDonough Holland and Allen in Oakland, California.

Sarah Glaser debated policy in Kansas high school and at Kansas State University, and coached at KSU. Sarah is pursuing her PhD in Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Chris Fryefield debated Lincoln-Douglas at South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon and currently debates Parliamentary at Whitman College in Washington.