Our Staff
The Matthew Harris Ornstein Washington Summer Debate Institute is dedicated to bringing together an All-Star staff for our students. Unlike most debate camps, we hold a competitive, national talent search to identify the best and brightest. We look for staff members with substantial debate expertise AND extensive experience as a teacher and/or coach to pass along their experience.
We are excited to announce the first wave of our staff (expecting more than 30 instructors once we're finished) for Summer 2021. We will update the roster as folks accept their offers and we extend others. Folks listed in alphabetical order.
 Natalie Bennie Doctoral Candidate, Pennsylvania State University (PA) |  Donald Broussard Director of Debate, Baton Rouge Magnet (LA) |
|---|---|
 Darrian Carroll Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland (MD) |  Cecilia Cerja PHD Candidate, Graduate Assistant, University of Georgia (GA) |
 Sophia Dal Pra University of Kentucky, Assistant Director and Summer Instructor at Triumph Debate |  Gabriel Chang-Deutsch Student, Minneapolis South |
 Larry Dang Harvard University |  Alex Dresdner Emory University (GA) |
 Danielle Dupree Howard University Debate Coach, Capital City PCS (DC) |  Cydney Edwards Program Director at MDUDL (FL) Program Associate WUDL |
 Alexa Figueroa TBD |  Cesar Fortuna Debate Coach, Montgomery Village Middle School (MD) |
 Colton Gilbert Debate Coach Little Rock Central High School (AR) |  Rob Glass, Director of Debate, University of Houston (TX) |
 Wil Hawk Director of Debate Capital City PCS (DC) |  Sohail Jouya Director of Debate, Westwood High School (TX) |
 Jaden Kuykendahl Howard University (IL) |  Selah Lee-Bey Debate Coach and Reading Specialist Washington Latin PCS (DC) |
 Dennis Martinez Lewis and Clarke College (OR) |  Randall Martinez Director of Forensics -- Fairchild (FL) |
 Dr. Jackie Poapst Assistant Director of Debate George Mason University (VA) |  Ernest Ntangu Georgetown University, Debate Coach, Oyster Adams Middle School (DC) |
 Dr. Omar Price Professor, Director of Debate, Alabama A&M University (AL) |  Justin Sayoto Undecided |
 Munyang Tengen Howard University Debate Coach Benjamin Tasker Middle School (MD) |  Delia Rossini MNUDL Volunteer (PA) |
 Kevin Tezi Howard University Debate Coach Bowie High School (MD) |  Brianna Thomas, Assistant Debate Coach, George Mason University (VA) |
 Patrick Wilborn Director of Debate DuVal High School (MD) |  Adilah Wutoh-Baylor Prince George's County Parks and Rec., Debate Coach, Roosevelt (MD) |
Staff of the 5th Annual HOSDI (2019)
From Left: Alex Dresdner, Kalyani Allums, Randall Martinez, Mary Beth Armstrong, Maggie Ryan, Jackie Poapst, Cesar Fortuna, Bilqiis Sheikh-Issa, Jon Alfuth, Olivia Berry, Colton Gilbert, Selah Lee-Bey, Cydney Edwards, Keoni Scott-Reid, Dara Davis, Frantz Deetjen, Aubrey Semple, David Trigaux, Omar Price, David Leo, Patrick Wilborn, Darcell Brown, Hiba Sheikh, Darrian Carroll, and Aisha Taylor.
Over the past 5 years, the WUDL staff has reflected the great debate community here in D.C. and around the country. We value diversity on our staff in terms of race and gender, but also in terms of experience, profession, and geography. We've had college students, graduate students and professors, policymakers, attorneys, and teachers from all over the nation (28 states so far).
Our staff over the years has included a lot of flashy resume lines regarding state and national championships, the NDT, CEDA, TOC, etc. but regardless of the accolades, we value the ability to build relationships with students and instructional skills. Many of our best instructors haven't been in break rounds of the NDT, but are strong communicators and instructors. We appreciate some sort of experience working with (59%) or participating in (34%) an Urban Debate League, though it isn't necessary.