USA Debate

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!

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!

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! 

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!

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!

Genevieve is a returning member of the USA Debate Team as well as the President of her team at Ray. This is her 7th year competing in Congressional Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. In Congressional Debate as a Freshman she placed 8th at Blue Key, 2nd at UT and broke to Semi-Finals at the TOC. As a Sophomore she finaled at Yale and Emory, placed 6th at Blue Key as well as the NCFL Grand Nationals and the Senate at the NSDA Nationals. As a Junior she championed the Glenbrooks and Harvard tournament, was the runner up for the TOC, and placed second at the TFA State Tournament. She has 30 lifetime TOC bids. She has also been playing piano since she was 2 years old, having performed in Carnegie Hall 6 times. In her spare time she enjoys drinking boba and watching detective documentaries. She feels incredibly honored for this opportunity to represent her country on the USA Debate Team.

Cameron has been involved in debate for six years, competing primarily in World Schools Debate. As a member of the 2019-2020 USA Debate Development Team, she co-championed the Delores Taylor Arthur School World Schools Invitational and reached quarterfinals at European, Greenhill, and Blake. Her freshman year, she championed Hockaday and Isidore Newman and placed third at the TFA State Tournament. She was also ranked 5th speaker at the 2019 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools. As a sophomore, she championed the NSDA National Tournament in World Schools with her district/school team, the University of Texas Tournament, Jesuit, and placed second at the Harvard-Westlake Tournament where she was also the top speaker. Outside debate, she serves as the 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 bike riding, backpacking in the Texas deserts, drinking coffee, and playing with her dog, Blue. Cameron is excited for an amazing year with USA Debate!

Kaitlyn has competed in debate her entire high school career, primarily in Congressional Debate and World Schools. She captains her school’s speech and debate team. In Congressional Debate, Kaitlyn placed 3rd at the 2020 Tournament of Champions and has made numerous semifinal and final rounds at Harvard, Yale, Emory, Princeton, Durham, Bronx, NSDA Nationals in the Senate, and more. Kaitlyn competed on behalf of the USA Debate Development Team for two years, during which she won first place and top speaker at the Delores Taylor Arthur Invitational, championed the Bluebonnet Invitational, and finaled at the Blake Tournament. In her junior summer, Kaitlyn was awarded a U.S. State Department National Security Fellowship to study Mandarin in China. She also sings and acts professionally. Since becoming the Youngest Top 10 Finalist on America’s Got Talent at age four, Kaitlyn has performed for presidents, toured internationally, and starred in numerous feature films, TV shows, and national commercials. She serves as an Artist Ambassador for Compassion International, an organization which aims to combat global child poverty. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with family, volunteering at her church, dabbling in other languages (currently Arabic), writing music, having spontaneous dance parties, and scouting out restaurants that serve escargot. Kaitlyn feels tremendously grateful and excited to compete with Team USA this year!

Jonathan is entering his senior year of speech and debate as co-captain of his school team, competing primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking and World Schools Debate. Most notably, he placed 17th at the 2019 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools, finished in the top 8 of the Harvard-Westlake Debates, and was a finalist at the CHSAA State Tournament in Domestic Extemp. Additionally, Jonathan competed on behalf of the USA Debate Development Team for the 2019-2020 season. While debating with the Development Team, he was a member of the top finishing American team at the 2020 Bluebonnet International World Schools Invitational, co-championed the 2019 Delores Taylor Arthur International World Schools Invitational while simultaneously placing 5th speaker, and reached the quarterfinal round of the Blake Tournament. When he is not debating, Jonathan is an avid cellist, and has performed as the principal cellist of various multi-state and national orchestras. In addition to performance, he leads community outreach efforts that provide after-school music education to elementary schoolers in his area. In his spare time, he can be found skiing, hiking, or watching Parks and Recreation. He is looking forward to an incredible year with USA Debate!

Ria has been involved in speech and debate since her sophomore year, participating in International Extemporaneous Speech and World Schools Debate. In Extemp, she was a quarterfinalist at George Mason University, finalist at Bethel Park and earned a bid to the Tournament of Champions. In 2020, Ria was a four-time local tournament champion earning the highest number of bids in Cleveland for International Extemp. In Ohio, she was a state quarterfinalist and alternate to nationals her novice year and a state semifinalist in 2020. Ria earned a position on Cleveland’s World Schools Debate team, winning international runner-up at the 2020 NSDA National Tournament. Outside of speech and debate, Ria serves as her school’s Diversity Fellows co-chair, senior class secretary, and on the Model United Nations leadership board. She focuses her time most heavily on social justice reform, as content-editor of the Laurel Political Review, Asian culture society president and co-founder of her school’s March for Our Lives chapter. Additionally, Ria conducted a three-year research project on political awareness levels in high schoolers and independently wrote a current event curriculum. Ria has volunteered her time teaching English at Us Together, a refugee resettlement agency and tutoring students in reading at Citizens Leadership Academy, an inner-city school for lower-income families. In her free time, she loves dancing, listening to music, playing instruments, reading the news and traveling with her family. Ria is excited for an amazing year with USA Debate!

Liana is returning for her third year with USA Debate and has been involved in speech and debate at Campbell Hall Episcopal for five years, primarily competing in World Schools Debate, Congressional Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Extemporaneous Speaking. During her freshman year, Liana also competed as a member of the USA Debate Development Team. Her competitive accomplishments in World Schools Debate include reaching octofinals of the 2020 World Schools Debating Championships, finals at the European Open (placing as third speaker), semifinals at the Winter Holiday Open in Zagreb, championing the Harvard World Schools Tournament (placing as top speaker), championing the Alfred Tuna Snider World Schools Tournament, and championing the Harvard Westlake World Schools Tournament twice, in addition to others. In addition to serving as captain of her school team, she is a three time qualifier for CHSSA State and the NSDA National tournament, where she reached finals in Public Forum Debate in 2020 and finals in Congressional Debate in 2019. Outside of debate, Liana serves on her school’s Academic Honor Board, volunteers as a tutor for students experiencing homelessness, and enjoys spending time with friends and family. She is incredibly grateful to be working with USA Debate again this year! 

Rodrigo is a senior at Alief Elsik High School where he is the President of the Speech and Debate team. Though he’s competed in almost every debate event, he found himself particularly interested  in Worlds School Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. Competing in Worlds School, Rodrigo has made it to Semi-finals of the TFA State tournament as a Junior, Quarter-finals of UT Longhorn Classic, and placed first in the CASE Houston City Championship. In 2020, Rodrigo competed at TFA State and NSDA Nationals in Domestic Extemp and Worlds School Debate. Outside of the world of debate, Rodrigo works with the Houston City Council to organize rallies for the youth. In his free time, Rodrigo enjoys ramen, watching multiple animes at a time, listening to music and the ‘Philosophize this!’ podcast. He is incredibly honored to be a part of such a phenomenal team and is excited for a great year!

Miles is a returning member of the USA Debate team and competes in World Schools Debate and Congressional Debate. In World Schools Debate, Miles placed 3rd at the Winter Holiday Open in Zagreb (8th individual speaker), 1st at the Harvard-Westlake World Schools tournament, 2nd at the Greenhill Fall Classic, as well as reaching elimination rounds at Harvard and VWSDC. As a sophomore, he led teams to 1st place at the Florida Varsity State Tournament and 3rd at NSDA Nationals (having received 3rd the year prior). In Congressional Debate, he  placed 3rd at the Florida Blue Key Invitational (finaling the previous year) among reaching other out rounds. Miles also serves as co-debate captain of his school’s speech and debate team. Outside of debate, he is a co-president of Artists Reaching to Society (ARTS) Club, an editor on his school’s newsmagazine The Muse, on the officer boards of Mu Alpha Theta and Key Club, and a student attorney at 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 Team USA!

Cassandra has been involved in speech and debate since her freshman year and currently serves as a team officer, looking to expand the team’s community outreach through volunteerism. Cassandra has competed in five different events, but primarily competes in Congressional Debate. In Congressional Debate, she was a semifinalist at the Tournament of Champions and Harvard and a finalist at Emory. Cassandra has won several tournaments in Ohio and placed in the top ten at Ohio’s State tournament as both a sophomore and junior. Cassandra championed the 2019 NSDA National Tournament in World Schools Debate with her district team and was ranked as the 21st speaker at the tournament. Outside of debate, Cassandra serves on her school’s Senate and leads the Finance Club. She tutors at a local after school community center and has become involved with the nonprofit Teaching Cleveland, which inspires community and political engagement. In her free time, Cassandra enjoys practicing yoga, reading memoirs, cooking, and riding roller coasters.

Anh graduated from Bentonville High School after participating in USA Debate for two years. She was selected for the 2019 WSDC team that took home 5th place in Bangkok and was captain of the 2020 E-WSDC team. Anh is currently on a gap year, studying Arabic through the NSLI-Y Scholarship.

Arham is currently a freshman at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he’s studying Finance and Data Science. In high school, he competed in Extemporaneous Speaking, where he championed the Stanford Invitational, got fourth at the Cal Invitational, won the MLK Invitational, and got second at the California State tournament. Currently, he competes for the Penn Debate Society and is conducting research about using business analytic frameworks to address climate change. Though he doesn’t know what the future holds, he’s fascinated by Venture Capital and startup culture. 

James debated for Mira Loma High School in California and was associated with the USA Debate program for three years. As a competitor, James placed 4th at the NSDA tournament in International Extemp and was a member of the 2020 WSDC team. He currently attends Columbia University and hopes to study both political science and data science. This year he will also be assisting the USA Development Team in their training. 

Rohit competed in Congressional Debate for 4 years at John F. Kennedy High School and was a member of Team USA from 2019-2020, his senior year. He is now a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is studying Molecular and Cell Biology. He is very thankful for his time in debate, and now gives back as an assistant coach for Congressional Debate at James Logan High School.

Jack is a returning member of the USA debate team as well as a captain of his team at Blake. Last year, Jack and his partner won the Tournament of Champions and the NDCA national championship in Public Forum debate. Additionally, he placed in the top 10 at the NSDA national championship, finished as the top speaker at the University of Kentucky National Opener, and championed the King Round Robin, finishing the year as the highest-ranking Junior in the country. His competitive accolades in World Schools debate include reaching semifinals at Harvard (after advancing to the Octofinal round the previous year), finals at Greenhill, and semifinals at the EurOpen tournament in Germany. When he isn’t debating, Jack writes for his school newspaper, Spectrum, and volunteers alongside the Miracle League to help support disabled youth by organizing and coaching recreational baseball games. In his free time, Jack enjoys spending time with friends, vacationing with family, playing video games, and binging Netflix. Jack can’t wait for another incredible year with Team USA!

Michael debated for Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Florida, was a member of USA Debate, and was a National Student of the Year Finalist. Since graduating, Michael has been consulting for minority-owned small businesses in Atlanta, designing advertising material for entrepreneurship initiatives, interning for the Atlanta Urban Debate League, and serving as an advisor in residence halls. He is double-majoring in Business (Marketing and Consulting) and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies. Long-term, he hopes to work in creative marketing to continue to communicate in meaningful ways.

Having spent a gap year teaching debate education in China, Emily is currently in her first year at Smith planning to major in Government. Competing for Kingwood High School and USA Debate, Emily is a TFA state and NSDA national champion (and two time finalist) in World Schools Debate who competed at the WSDC in 2018 and 2019, reaching quarterfinals both times. While in quarantine, she has been enjoying learning how to cook and roller skate. 

Ranen (he/him) is a rising sophomore at WashU, studying political science and sociology. He is incredibly grateful for his time representing his country on USA Debate from 2017-2019, and serving as Millburn High School’s debate president. He currently serves as WashU’s Student Body President and Vice President of the debate team, working on projects to increase mental healthcare, expand access to free menstrual products, and create equity on campus. In high school, he was ranked 1st in the country for Congress, winning the TOC, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, Glenbrooks, Blake, and New Jersey States twice. With the USA Team, he also won tournaments in Slovenia, Cornell, Greenhill, and Harvard-Westlake. 

Piper is currently a senior attending the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. She is studying business information analytics. Piper continues to debate in the British Parliamentary format, works as a residential assistant, and interns as a research analyst for an international company based in the Denver area. 

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Aditya is a senior studying Applied Math, Computer Science, and Economics at Harvard University. He placed second at 2017 NSDA Nationals in Congressional Debate, and semifinaled at the 2017 World Championships with Team USA. In college, Aditya competes with the Harvard College Debating Union, and was a top ten speaker and semifinalist at the 2020 World Championship. Outside of debate, he also enjoys doing research in economics, computer science, and statistics.

Ellie Singer is currently on leave from Yale University, where she is majoring in political science. She stays involved in debate by coaching for her alma mater, the Blake School, and competing in American parliamentary debate. Ellie serves as the 2020 President of the Yale Debate Association, the Vice President of Operations of American Parliamentary Debate Association, and a co-director of the activist organization Engender at Yale.

Sara is a Legal Assistant at Gupta Wessler, a national appellate, constitutional, and complex litigation boutique. She just finished a year long position as a Policy and Program Fellow at the American Constitution Society, a leading progressive legal organization. Sara graduated from Duke University in May 2019 with a B.A. in Refugee and Migrant Studies, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She received distinction for her thesis, which she wrote based off of primary research she conducted in Jordan. Her thesis was entitled: “The Deprivation of the Right to Work as a Barrier to Autonomy for Iraqi and Syrian Refugees in Jordan.” Highlights of her time at Duke included working closely with resettled refugees in Durham and spearheading sexual assault prevention efforts.

Jasper is a 2L at the University of Chicago Law School. He graduated from Boston University in 2019, where he won the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s Team of the Year award with his debate partner.

Daniel (who goes by Garrison) is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor’s in Marketing and a recent graduate of High Tech High Graduate School of Education getting a M.Ed with a focus on Teaching and Learning.In the Fall of 2021 he will be a founding teacher as well as the Director of the House System at The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men in New Orleans under the direction of Byron Arthur. Garrison’s end goal is to spend some time in the classroom and then move on to working in education policy and potentially getting another masters in public administration. His love for debate will continue as he attempts to foster a love of rhetoric and argumentation in his classroom. Garrison also currently runs a politics & culture podcast called “Rebellion on the River.”

Lily competed in speech and debate for four years at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa and went on to compete in college at Western Kentucky University. Outside of forensics and her studies, Lily has completed research for the International Commission on Missing Persons, taught debate in rural Bosnia with Bosnia Initiatives for Local Development, and conducted fieldwork in Kosovo. She recently completed her masters in International Relations at the London School of Economics, where her dissertation “Genocide Studies and Its Queer Potentials” was awarded the International Relations Research Martin Wight Dissertation Prize. Lily is currently the director of the Bluegrass Debate League, an initiative housed at the University of Kentucky created to increase debate participation in the state.