USA Debate

Junior – Alief Elsik High School – Texas

Ebenezer is entering his fifth year of debate with a particular focus in World Schools Debate. Currently he serves as the Lead Debate Captain for his school’s speech and debate team. As a sophomore, he championed the 2021 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools, reached semifinals of UT, Blake, and King Round Robin, and was two-time TFA State qualifier reaching octafinals in 2021. When not debating, Ebenezer works as a member of the Houston City Youth Council creating events to engage youth and his community in environmental justice initiatives. In his spare time, Ebenezer enjoys listening to music, skating, and watching documentaries. He looks forward to his time with USA Debate!

Senior – Mountain Brook High School – Alabama

Jane Grey serves as the captain of the Mountain Brook High School debate team and competes primarily in Public Forum. She is a three-time Alabama state champion and three-time Deep South District champion. Jane Grey cleared to quarterfinals at NSDA Nationals and is currently ranked #7 in the country for Public Forum. She has been selected to compete at the Ivy Street, Blake, and Magic City Round Robins. Jane Grey volunteers for SpeakFirst, creates and teaches online elementary debate courses, and leads local debate camps in her community. Outside of debate, Jane Grey works on various political campaigns, loves to cook, and recently earned her Seal of Biliteracy in French. She is the founder of Young Voters for a Better Alabama, a non-partisan youth coalition, which supports candidates and legislation. She is excited to represent the USA Debate team this year!

Senior – Alief Elsik High School – Texas

Diego is a senior at Alief Elsik High School where he is president of the Elsik forensic team. He currently competes in Worlds Schools Debate and United States Extemp. Competing with the USA Debate development team his junior year, Diego placed second at the Greenhill Fall Classic, second at The Delores Taylor Arthur School Invitational, as well as reaching quarterfinals at the Slovenian Open and reaching out rounds at the Harvard World Schools Invitational. Competing with his school team, Diego reached out rounds at state (reaching semifinals his sophomore year), championed the HUDL City Championships tournament in back-to-back years, and won the NSDA national championship in World’s School Debate. Outside of debate, Diego spends his time competing for his school’s varsity baseball team, coaching and competing in boxing, searching for the best music ever made, and working to make the debate more accessible to the underprivileged through volunteering and work with the CrowdPrep Institute. He is unbelievably thankful for the opportunity to compete with USA Debate and is looking forward to an extremely fun and successful year.

Senior – Polytechnic School – California

Kate has been involved in debate for six years, primarily in World Schools and Parliamentary formats. She currently serves as captain of her school team. In World Schools Debate, Kate championed and placed top speaker at the Damus Hollywood Invitational and reached out rounds at tournaments including NSDA Nationals, Harvard, Greenhill, and Coppell (top speaker), among others. In Parliamentary Debate, she championed tournaments including the SCDL State Tournament and Damien (top speaker), along with making out rounds at tournaments including Cal Invitational, University of Oregon, and Peninsula (second speaker). In addition to competing herself, Kate coaches and manages the middle school debate team at the McKinley School (PUSD) in Pasadena and co-founded the organization Girls Who Debate. Outside of debate, Kate serves as associated student body president of her school and on the Judiciary Council. She is president of her school’s Model United Nations team, captain of the Ethics Bowl team, and chief copy editor of Poly’s newspaper, the Paw Print. She also works with the United Nations Association (UNA) as the National High School Campus Fellow, president of her school’s UNA chapter, and board member of the UNA-Pasadena chapter. In her free time, Kate enjoys playing on her varsity tennis team and spending time with friends and family. Kate is incredibly grateful to be a part of the team and is looking forward to an amazing year with USA Debate!

Senior – Millennium High School – New York

Hannah has been involved in speech and debate for six years. She has competed on behalf of the USA Debate development team for the past three years, during which she was the top speaker at the EurOpean tournament and The Delores Arthur Taylor School Invitational (reaching quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively). She championed the Bluebonnet Invitational, reached finals at Blake twice, and reached quarterfinals at the Harvard World Schools tournament. She also reached quarterfinals with her district team at the 2021 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools. Additionally, she competes in Congressional Debate, in which she has reached semifinal rounds at ASU and Bronx, and reached finals at Columbia and Princeton (also earning a bid to the TOC). She enjoys helping coach and judge local middle school debates. Outside of debate, Hannah volunteers with the Neighborhood Defense Service of Harlem, a public defense practice. She loves creative writing and is an editor for her school’s literary magazine, FLUX, and has helped lead writing workshops for younger students with Writopia Labs. In her free time, you will find her exploring the city for new places to eat, baking, or rewatching Grey’s Anatomy.

Senior – Greenhill School – Texas

Cameron is returning to USA Debate for the second year and has been involved in debate for seven years, competing primarily in World Schools Debate. As a member of the 2019-2020 USA Debate development team, the 2020-2021 national team, and her school team, she reached octafinals of the World Schools Debating Championships and championed NSDA Nationals, NDCA, Hockaday, Isidore Newman, University of Texas Tournament, and The Delores Taylor Arthur School Invitational twice. She reached the semifinal round at Harvard and the World Holiday Open and top-spoke the TFA State tournament. Outside debate, she serves as the executive content editor of her school paper, The Evergreen, and is an active member of her school’s Project Dialogue Club and Political Action Club. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, drinking coffee, reading about cargo ships specifically, and playing with with her dog, Blue. Cameron is excited for another amazing year with USA Debate! 

Senior – Richard Montgomery High School – Maryland

Jennifer has been involved in debate throughout high school, and she captains her team at Richard Montgomery and the Potomac Debate Academy. She competes in Public Forum and World Schools. In Public Forum, she championed the NSDA National Tournament and accumulated nine bids to the Tournament of Champions in her junior year. Notably, she reached numerous semifinal and final rounds at Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Georgetown, and several round robins. She was also ranked first speaker at Emory as well as second speaker at Georgetown and the Mid-America Cup. In World Schools, she competed with the USA Debate development team during the 2020-2021 season. While debating for the development team, she finaled at the Greenhill Classic and was first seed and tenth speaker at the International World Schools Debate Tournament Ljutomer. Jennifer also enjoys volunteering as a coach and judge for younger debaters. Outside of debate, she is a member of her school’s mock trial team, which reached finals at the state championship. She is also involved with Student Government, the World Affairs Council, and other clubs and organizations. In her free time, she likes hiking, listening to podcasts, watching Netflix, and spending time with friends and family. Jennifer is incredibly grateful and excited to compete with USA Debate!

Junior – Lambert High School – Georgia

Vinayak has been involved in debate throughout his high school career, competing in Public Forum and Worlds Schools Debate. In his two years of Public Forum, he has qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice, championed the James Logan and Peach State Tournament, and ranked fourth speaker at the University of Pennsylvania Tournament. As a member of the USA Debate development team, he has reached quarterfinals at the Harvard College Worlds Schools Invitational and semifinals at the Greenhill and Blake Tournament. Vinayak is also actively involved in speech, in which he championed Georgia’s American Legion Oratorical Contest and State Optimist Oratorical Contest. Outside of speech and debate, he serves as the Youth Sector Leader for the Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council, in which he has spread awareness about the opioid crisis to elected officials and developed a campaign to provide thousands of families with proper drug disposal resources. Vinayak also frequently writes articles in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and founded the Board of Commissioners’ Youth Council in his county. In his free time, he loves to listen to music, keep up with politics, and spend time with friends and family. Vinayak is incredibly honored and excited to be a part of the USA Debate team this year!

Senior – Greenhill School – Texas

Ashley is a returning member of the USA Debate team and has been involved in speech and debate since her freshman year, primarily competing in World Schools Debate. She has championed World Schools at NSDA Nationals, NDCA Nationals, the Stanford Invitational, the Greenhill Fall Classic, The Delores Taylor Arthur School Invitational, and the UT Longhorn Classic. She’s also placed second at Harvard-Westlake and TFA State, as well as reached semifinals at the Winter Holiday Open in Zagreb. Outside of debate, Ashley is the president of her school’s East Asian Affinity Group, Model United Nations team, Project Dialogue Club, and Political Action Club, as well as an avid photographer (both film and digital). When she isn’t debating, Ashley enjoys writing articles, participating as a representative of the Dallas Youth Commission and Human Rights Commission, and volunteering as a judge at local middle school tournaments to encourage youth advocacy. In her free time, Ashley enjoys exploring local cafés, playing with her two cats, and spending time with family. Ashley is incredibly honored to represent the United States in the activity that has given her a voice and is looking forward to another great year with USA Debate!

Senior – Phillips Academy – Massachusetts

As a rising senior and the co-captain of Phillips Academy’s debate team, Victor has competed in World Schools Debate for six years. He was also a member of the USA Debate development team the past three years. His achievements include placing third at the 2021 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools Debate, second at the 2021 King Round Robin, first at the 2019 Bluebonnet World Schools Debate International Tournament (third top speaker), and first at the Blake Tournament. He reached the quarterfinal round twice at the European Tournament (placing as third top speaker in 2020) and finished twice as a quarterfinalist at the Harvard College World Schools Invitational. He has reached elimination rounds at Stanford Invitational, Greenhill Invitational, Isidore Newman Tournament, Semiahmoo Invitational, and The Delores Taylor Arthur Invitational. Outside of debate, Victor is a member of his school’s Varsity Crew and Varsity Nordic skiing teams, a board member of his school’s Save the Children Club, and a Residential Advisor for his dorm on campus. In his spare time, Victor loves playing basketball and spending time with his friends. Victor is looking forward to an incredible year with USA Debate!

Senior – A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts – Florida

Miles is returning to his third year with the USA Debate team and competes primarily in World Schools Debate. His competitive accomplishments include reaching octafinals at the 2021 World Schools Debating Championships, third at the Winter Holiday Open in Zagreb two times (second and eighth speaker, respectively), first at the Stanford Debate Invitational, Blake, and Harvard-Westlake tournament, and second at the Greenhill Fall Classic (top speaker). In Congressional Debate, he placed third at the Blue Key Invitational among other out rounds. As president of his school’s speech and debate team, he has led teams to third place at NSDA Nationals (having placed third the year prior) and first place twice at the Florida Varsity State Tournament. Outside of debate, he enjoys writing articles as an editor of his school’s newspaper, leads several clubs, and is a student attorney for PBC Youth Court. In his free time, Miles enjoys reading science fiction books, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends. He is looking forward to the upcoming year with USA Debate!

Senior – St. Paul’s School – New Hampshire

Abbey is returning for her third year with USA Debate. She has been actively participating in speech and debate since middle school, competing in primarily World Schools and Parliamentary formats. In World Schools, she represented USA Debate at the 2021 Macau Online WSDC, placing 13th overall and third in the Hegel division as an individual speaker. In addition, she was a finalist at NSDA Nationals as a ninth grader in 2019, and a semifinalist in 2021. Abbey has championed the World Schools division at the Stanford Invitational, the Greenhill Fall Classic and Harvard-Westlake. She also broke into semifinals at the Winter Holiday Open and the Harvard College World Schools Invitational in 2021. In addition to co-captaining her school’s Parliamentary Debate team, Abbey is a four-year member of her school’s varsity volleyball team, leads the Justice and Social Equality for Asians club and serves as a chair on the Student Diversity Equity and Inclusion Council. In her free time, she enjoys perfecting her Pinterest boards, crocheting fun projects, and reading. She is beyond excited for another great year with USA Debate!