ADL Teachers

Jessie Chen

The Founder and CEO of Asian Debate League

Debate & Writing Instructor

More about Jessie

Dylan Willett

Debate Instructor

More about Dylan
    Education:
  • B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Communication Studies at the University of Missouri, Kansas City

    • Dylan Willett was a debater from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He achieved competitive success in college debate qualifying to the National Debate tournament, made it to elimination rounds of multiple tournaments, and was ranked in the top 20 among all college debaters. Dylan debated in other styles of debate besides policy achieving multiple tournament wins and was ranked in the top 10 of all parliamentary debaters. These skills help him adapt to different forums of debate as well as teach innovative combined skills that debaters gain success. He also spent a substantial time coaching high school and middle school debate by coaching at some of the most prestigious high schools in the country achieving success in all divisions, from coaching multiple middle school national championships, JV tournament wins, and achieving TOC bids. Dylan also spent time teaching at the Debate-Kansas City, Jayhawk Debate Institute, and the UMKC Summer Debate Institute summer camps.

Nate Sawyer

Debate Instructor

More about Nate
    Education:
  • B.A. in Social Studies of Science & Society from Emory University, highest honors
  • M.A. Candidate in Anthropology & Social Sciences from the University of Chicago

    • Nate Sawyer as a two-time TOC finalist and NSDA National Champion, brings over seven years of debate education experience to his students. Nate’s passion for debate is shaped by his time debating at Glenbrook North where, as captain, he led the team to multiple state titles including his winning the State Championship in both JV and Varsity. Nate is the only debater in Illinois history to win the top speaker award at state three consecutive years in a row. Beyond the TOC and NSDA tournament, he and his partner were in deep elimination rounds of every national tournament they attended. Nate received a full-tuition academic and debate merit scholarship to attend Emory University where he finished his year as top speaker of the entire D6 US region while qualifying to the prestigious NDT as Emory’s only joint-freshman team. Aligned with Emory’s vision of debate as a training site for social catalysts, Nate then channeled his competitive energies into service leadership roles for the Emory and wider Atlanta communities. In addition to volunteering with the Atlanta Urban Debate League, Nate was selected by Emory’s Center of Community Engagement to serve as the Executive Director of Volunteer Emory where he directed Emory’s largest student organization tasked with social justice and service learning programming for the entire student body. Additionally, Nate’s grant-funded research and advocacy leadership in student mental health was nationally recognized: he was selected as an Active Minds Emerging Scholars Fellow and he was selected for the University of Michigan’s national award for “Student Mental Health Advocate of the Year.” As a Taiwanese-American teacher, Nate has received both US and Taiwanese government support to teach in cross-cultural contexts since 2014. Students he has coached since 2014 have won national tournaments, state championships, and have accrued dozens of TOC bids along the way. In his most recent position in 2019, his students’ success skyrocketed alongside his coaching—from failing to make it to elimination rounds before his joining, to winning a major national tournament by the end of the semester. By the year’s end, his students were tied for 2nd nationally for most TOC bids and finished 3rd nationally at the TOC.

Gabe Esquivel

Debate Instructor

More about Gabe
    Education:
  • B.A in Economics from the University of Kansas

    • Gabe debated at the University of Kansas for 3.5 years, both in person and virtually. He has coached high school debate and been a lab instructor at the Jayhawk Debate Institute since 2017 including the online Jayhawk Debate institute in 2020. Gabe specializes in coaching speaking technique, researching impact turns, answering kritiks, and going for conditionality. He believes coaching debate involves significant dialogue with his students and lots of practice. His previous students have qualified for the TOC and NSDA tournaments and frequently made it to elimination rounds of their tournaments. In college, Gabe won multiple regional tournaments and made it to elimination rounds in several national tournaments including the ADA and CEDA tournaments. In high school, he won the “Sunflower District Student of the Year Award”, qualified to the TOC, won the 2016 state championship, and placed 7th at the NSDA tournament championship. Gabe’s favorite debates involve economics, sci-fi technology, and excellent evidence.

ADL-Contracted Teachers

Asian Debate League is the Exclusive Agent in Taiwan of the following coaches. 

Please contact ADL if you are interested in taking their classes.

Joel Mounts

Debate, Writing, Science, Math Instructor

More about Joel
    Education:
  • B.S. in Biopsychology and Pre-med from Grand Valley State University in Michigan
  • Grand Valley State University in Michigan Department of Psychology, Dr. Josita Maouene Lab, Researched & Published Language Development from 2010-12
  • University of Arkansas Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Jamie Hestekin Lab, Researched & Published Biofuel Technology 2012

    • Joel’s passion for research and debate began in a suburban Michigan high school. There, he was introduced to Policy Debate and MUN. Debate allowed him to relentlessly raise questions about improving the world by better policies and MUN taught him skills of mitigating world tensions by geopolitical negotiations. A strong regimen of AP classes in high school led Joel to a university program focused largely on biology, psychology, and chemistry. He immediately went to work applying science knowledge in the Dr. Maouene Lab for five semesters (see lab brochures from Fall 2010 and Spring 2012), studying and publishing how children naturally acquire language. He also joined Dr. Hestekin lab at the University of Arkansas developing and publishing the university’s first viable system for delivering carbon dioxide to algae used in biofuels. He finished his final year of university with a research and publication in investigating emotional language used in relationships. In his final years of university, Joel dived into teaching these same research skills at his university library in the first year of an innovative peer-research program. After over 60 consultations, Joel was rated as “very comfortable” in his field and rated “confidence boosting” in 100% of his appointments. After graduation, Joel went to mainland China to continue teaching both English speaking and writing. Joel is classically trained in violin, an avid tea drinker, a voracious sushi eater, and a lover of trees. As a teacher, he brings to his class his unique world view, experience, and energy. Joel believes that nurturing self-motivation and self-confidence in students while emphasizing real-world practice is the key to learning and mastering any academic skills.

Tyler Prochazka

Debate & Writing Instructor

More about Tyler
    Education:
  • B.A. in Economics, International Affairs, and Asia Studies at Western Kentucky University
  • M.A. in Asia Studies at National Chengchi University
  • Pursuing Ph. D. in Universal Basic Income at National Chengchi University

    • Tyler has been involved with speech and debate for over a decade. Tyler’s love for debate is reflected in his passion for his current academic and career choices. Over the years, Tyler has volunteered for both his high school and college debate teams, providing research, judging, and helping coach a state champion team. He began his career as a high school policy debater in Kansas, where he focused on delving deep into both traditional policy and critical arguments. As a high school debater, he took top three in the state championship three consecutive times, and was part of the first two-person team from his school to break at the national NSDA tournament in modern history. At a prestigious invitational tournament in Kansas his senior year, Tyler was recruited by Western Kentucky University (WKU) to participate in the nation’s top Lincoln Douglas policy debate team. In college, he was part of the national championship team three times, and as a freshman was a novice national NFA LD co-champion, and was a PKD national LD co-champion as a junior. In speech, Tyler is well versed in extemp and impromptu. Throughout college, Tyler was also actively involved in journalism, being recognized by Columbia University and receiving multiple state championships for his work. With his debate skills, Tyler has applied this passion to researching the basic income concept, becoming the features editor for Basic Income Earth Network, and helping to co-found UBI Taiwan. In his role at UBI Taiwan, Tyler established and directed the first ever Basic Income Asia Pacific international conference, working with scholars from around the globe. He has recently become a research assistant for the U.S. State Department, providing reports on Artificial Intelligence’s status and trends in international affairs and law. Currently, Tyler is completing a Fulbright scholarship at National Chengchi University, where he is receiving a Master’s in Asia Studies, completing his dissertation on the basic income movement in Taiwan. Previously, Tyler has studied Mandarin Chinese in China, participating in several intensive language programs with the U.S. government. He used this knowledge to help teach Chinese to several middle and high school classrooms across Kentucky as a junior in college.

Brandon Gergel

Debate & Writing Instructor

More about Brandon
    Education:
  • M.S. in International Marketing from Saint Joseph’s University
  • B.A. in Economics; Philosophy minor from Saint Joseph’s University
  • Graduated with highest honors, Summa Cum Laude (3.94 GPA) and Phi Beta Kappa membership

    • Brandon Brandon has been teaching writing for over a dozen years. An NPR-published writer, he worked for three years as a professional Writing Center teacher. He specializes in working with writers to diagnose their problems as well as making personalized plans to improve students’ writing. Brandon has a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy and an M.S. in International Marketing from the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University, one of the top 10 programs in the U.S. While completing his Master’s, Brandon worked as the Teaching Assistant for the President of Saint Joseph’s University and volunteered as a marketer and researcher in the non-profit health sector in the United States and Spain. He also worked for two years as a TEFL-certified English and debate teacher in South Korea. As an ADL debate instructor, Brandon is uniquely qualified to help students develop the skills ADL prides itself on: producing outstanding debaters and critical thinkers. At their core, debate and writing are similar: both involve analyzing evidence, taking a position, and logically defending it. Students with these abilities will appeal to the best universities and surely be on the road to academic success. It’s Brandon’s goal to help get them there!

ADL-Contracted Onsite Coaches

Asian Debate League is the Exclusive Contact and Agent in Taiwan of the following coaches. 

Please contact ADL if you are interested in online courses with the Collegiate Debate Coaches from the US.

Kurt Fifelski

Debate Instructor

Assistant Director of Debate at Michigan University

More about Kurt
    Education:
  • Pursuing PhD in Public Policy at Wayne State University

    • Kurt Fifelski is the Assistant Director of Debate at the University of Michigan and has been in Ann Arbor since 2014. In that time he has coached teams to tournament victory at Harvard, Wake Forest, Kentucky, the Dartmouth Round Robin, Miami, and Indiana. Kurt focuses on coordinating debaters and coaches, directs argumentation at tournaments, and on making sure Michigan continues to be the most innovative team in terms of research in the country. He has won multiple awards for his skills as debate coach and as a judge. Kurt is currently working a PhD in public policy at Wayne State University.

Maria Sanchez

Debate Instructor

More about Maria
    Education:
  • B.A. in Political Science, International Studies, and Environmental Studies at the University of Kentucky

    • Maria Sanchez was a debater at the University of Kentucky, completed degrees in Political Science, International Studies, and Environmental Studies. She has an extensive debate background, having debated at Northside College Prep in Chicago for four years and continuing her debate career in college at UK. During her senior year of high school, Maria was named the 2016 Urban Debater of the Year by the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues and reached quarterfinals of the Urban Debate National Championship. In past summers, Maria has been a staff member at the Northwestern Debate Institute and the Georgetown University Debate Seminar.

Lily Ottinger

Debate Instructor

More about Lily
    Education:
  • Pursuing B.S. in Mathematics at the University of Kansas

    • Lily is a third-year policy debater at the University of Kansas and has been involved with speech and debate for 7 years. In high school, she qualified to nationals all four years, placing 11th at NSDA nationals and 5th at CFL nationals in 2017, and won state championships in policy debate (2017) and Lincoln-Douglas debate (2016). In college, Lily was 1st place at the 2018 National Junior Division Debate tournament and the 2019 The University of Texas Tournament. Lily has spent the last three years coaching high school students at a variety of developing debate programs, and she spends her summers teaching at the Jayhawk Debate Institute. When she isn’t debating or coaching, Lily enjoys tutoring mathematics and painting landscapes.

Jackson Hoffmann

Debate Instructor

More about Jackson
    Education:
  • Pursuing a B.A. in Political Sciences at the University of Kansas

    • Jackson debated at Wichita State University for one year and is in his second year debating at the University of Kansas. He has competed in the elimination rounds of several college tournaments since beginning his college debate career, including winning the first half of the 2019 University of Texas – Dallas swing tournament. Before debating in college, Jackson participated in both policy debate and public forum debate in high school. His senior year of high school, he and his partner Gabe qualified for the Tournament of Champions, placed second at the Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament, and finished 7th at the National Speech and Debate Association championship – all in policy debate. When not debating, he enjoys keeping up with global politics, discovering new music, and planning his sitcom TV show that he intends on writing one day.

Jimin Park

Debate Instructor

More about Jimin
    Education:
  • Pursuing a B.A. in East Asian Language and Cultures, Global and International Studies, and Political Science

    • Jimin is debating for a second-year at the University of Kansas and was a lab leader at the Jayhawk Debate Institute in the summer of 2020. In high school, Jimin won the National Speech and Debate Tournament, qualified for the Tournament of Champions, was a two-time state champion in policy debate and awarded 2nd place in extemporaneous speaking at state. In his first year of college debate, he was in finals of the UMKC tournament, won the Emporia tournament, was in semifinals of the Wayne State tournament, octofinals of the Kentucky tournament, and double octofinals at the ADA national tournament. Outside of debate, Jimin enjoys spending time with friends and traveling to South Korea to visit family.

Jet Semrick

Debate Instructor

More about Jet
    Education:
  • B.S. in Computer Science and Finance at the University of Kansas

    • Jet Semrick is a debater for the University of Kansas and has been involved in speech and debate for 5 years. On the college circuit, he has competed in elimination debates of multiple tournaments. In high school, he competed on the national circuit and won NCFL nationals in 2019. Jet is passionate about research and enjoys the competitive aspect of policy debate.
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Nae Edwards

Debate Instructor

More about Jet
    Education:
  • Pursuing a B.A. in Communications at Wake Forest University

    • Nae debated for Wake Forest University for 3 years. In his time in high school, he was able to aquire 10 total bids to the Tournament of Champions between his junior and senior year. During his time at Wake Forest, Nae has qualified as a first-round at-large bid to the National Debate Tournament every year he has competed (3). Also, at the National Debate Tournament Nae has been in both the octo-finals and the semi-finals of the tournament – all in policy debate. As a coach, Nae has coached multiple high school teams into qualifying and debating in the elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions. When Nae is not debating he enjoys music, video games, and reading new literature.

ADL-Contracted Online Instructors

Asian Debate League is the Exclusive Contact and Agent in Taiwan of the following coaches. 

Please contact ADL if you are interested in online courses with the Top-Tier Debate Directors from the US.

Stefan Bauchard

NSDA Asia & TOC Intl. Consultant

Former Harvard Debate Coach

More about Stefan
  • Stefan Bauschard has been a policy debate coach for the Harvard University Debate Council for over a decade, and currently the Debate Coach for Lakeland School District, Stefan has been actively teaching speaking and debating in the United States at both the high school and college levels since 1994. During that time, he has taught hundreds of students, developed and tabulated more than seventy-five tournaments, spent thousands of hours developing research and instructional materials for debaters all over the country, and has developed academic speech and debate workshops in the United States and abroad.

    • Stefan is available for Public Forum coaching.

Brian Manuel

Stanford University Debate Director

More about Brian
  • Brian Manuel is the Director of Policy Debate at Stanford University and the Director of Debate at Edgemont High School. Prior to Stanford, Brian coached for Harvard University, where his teams were greatly successful achieving multiple First Round At-Large bids to the National Debate Tournament and participating in elimination rounds at every tournament they attended. At Stanford, Brian has coached teams to the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament, Cross-Examination Debate Association National Championship along with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Arizona State, Gonzaga, and San Francisco State University. On the high school circuit, Brian has coached the champions of the 2003 Bronx Science, 2008 Barkley Forum, 2011 Meadows & USC tournaments, and the 2012 Golden Desert Invitational. In addition, Brian has had multiple teams in the elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions, NDCA, NCFL, and NSDA Nationals with finals finishes in 2007 and 2012, in addition to coaching the top speaker at NSDA Nationals in 2013. In 2015, Brian began coaching debate at Edgemont high school.  In his first year, Brian coached one Policy team to the TOC, with the team earning 6 TOC bids and reaching the quarterfinals at Harvard. One of the debaters was accepted to Harvard and the other to Stanford. In only his second year at Edgement (2016-17), he has grown the team to more than 50 debaters.

    • Brian will be tutoring in Policy, PD, and Lincoln-Douglas.

Dr. Mikaeala Malsin

Georgetown University Debate Director

More about Mikaeala
  • Dr. Mikaeala Malsin is currently the Director of Debate at Georgetown University. Previously, she was an Associate Director of Debate at Emory University, her alma mater. At Emory Mikaela has coached multiple first round at large bids to the National Debate Tournament, and one team who placed third in the Copeland award rankings. In 2012, she received an M.A. in Communications from Wake Forest University, where she coached teams receiving first round bids and clearing at the National Debate Tournament. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Georgia, where she coached from 2012 to 2015. Mikaela has taught debate at the Emory National Debate Institute, the Dartmouth Debate Institute, the Georgia Debate Institute, and the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance summer institute.

    • Mikaela will be tutoring in Policy Debate and Public Forum.

Kevin Hamrick

Montgomery Bell Debate Director

More about Kevin
  • Kevin Hamrickis the Director of Debate at Montgomery Bell Academy.  This year his teams have dominated the national policy circuit, winning St. Mark’s, New Trier, and the Glenbrooks. His teams have also advanced to the elimination rounds at every other major tournament. Prior to coaching at Montgomery Bell, Kevin coached at Northwestern, where he assisted with coaching multiple national champions.

    • Kevin be tutoring in Policy Debate.

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