TM
Classic Debate Camp
Miami University, Ohio - July 12-20, 2025
Hannah Owens Pierre
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Hannah attended Edina High School where she competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate for four years. She was a three-time national qualifier. In 2022, she was NSDA National Champion and 12th best speaker. In 2023, she was Minnesota State Champion and Top Speaker at the NSDA national tournament. Hannah is now attending Yale University where she studies Ethics, Politics, and Economics and competes in American Parliamentary Debate with the Yale Debate Association. Outside of debate, she enjoys reading, playing drums and guitar, and learning Latin. Hannah joined the CDC staff in 2023, took a year off in 2024, and is excited to return to the staff in 2025.
Doron Darnov
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Doron Darnov currently coaches Lincoln-Douglas debate for the Mountain View-Los Altos team near San Francisco, California. Previously, he coached LD at Millburn High School in New Jersey and British Parliamentary at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Doron's debaters compete in California’s uniquely challenging Coast Forensics League, which accounted for all of the top 4 finishers in LD at the 2024 NSDA tournament. His students have won numerous tournaments including the Jack Howe Memorial Tournament, the Stephen Stewart Memorial Tournament, the John Lewis Invitational, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational. In 2024, Doron coached the NSDA national champion in LD. When he isn’t coaching debate, Doron spends most of his time reading and writing: He is currently a PhD student in English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught classes on topics ranging from digital media and AI to climate change and environmental history.
Chris Chen
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Chris Chen attended Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana, and competed in Public Forum for one year before transitioning to Lincoln-Douglas for the next three. He served as a team captain his senior year. He is an NSDA National Semifinalist in World Schools Debate and an Indiana state semifinalist in Lincoln-Douglas. This year, Chris was also district champion in LD and the Indiana state champion in US Extemporaneous Speaking. In the fall, Chris will attend the University of Notre Dame, where he plans to study computer science and business. Outside of debate, he enjoys playing tennis, burning food (though he calls it cooking), jamming to Bruno Mars, late-night Euchre with friends, and binging Suits. Chris was a CDC camper in 2023 and is excited to return to camp as an instructor in 2025.
Tristan Williams
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Tristan Williams attended Oakwood High School where he competed in LD for four years and served as a team captain his senior year. In 2024, Tristan placed 10th at the NSDA national tournament, and in 2025 Tristan was Ohio state co-champion, with his teammate Robert Einhorn. He also won top speaker in 2024 at the Ohio State tournament, as well as 3rd best speaker at the 2023 NSDA national tournament. Tristan enjoys traditional LD debate and specializes in evidence clash and consequentialist frameworks. Tristan will attend the University of Alabama, where he will be a Randall Research Scholar and will major in Chemical Engineering. Tristan intends to compete for UA's speech and debate team in extemporaneous speaking, informative speaking, or extemporaneous (IPDA) debate. In his free time, Tristan enjoys running, chess, cello, and killer brownies. Tristan was a camper at CDC in 2022 and 2023 and is thrilled to return to camp as an instructor in 2025.
Danielle Stanley
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Danielle Stanley attended GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio. She started her speech and debate career in Declamation but transitioned to LD starting in her sophomore year. She served as the LD Captain of her team for the 2 years that she was in debate. She was a three-time state qualifier and a one-time national qualifier. She coached Speech and Debate to marginalized students internationally for three years for the Eloquence Academy. Danielle is graduating from high school a year early and will attend The Ohio State University, where she will major in Biology with a Pre-Med minor. She plans to start the LD chapter of OSU's Speech and Debate program. Outside of debate, Danielle enjoys working out, traveling, playing volleyball, skating, and spending time with friends. Danielle became a CDC LD instructor in 2025.
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Paxton Sheppard
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Paxton Sheppard attended Rigby High School and competed in LD for three years, serving as the team president his senior year. He is a three-time qualifier to the NSDA national tournament, going twice in LD and once in Policy. Paxton was the Idaho State Runner up in Policy his junior year and the state champion in LD his senior year. That year, Paxton placed 3rd at NSDA nationals and was the 10th best speaker. As a debater, Paxton specialized in traditional LD, with a focus on combining lay appeal with technical precision. Since graduation, Paxton has coached students from across the country. At the 2024 NSDA national tournament, he coached 7 LD entries, all of whom broke to elimination rounds. Additionally, in 2024 Paxton coached 3 different state champions in LD. Paxton is currently attending Carroll College where he is pursuing a degree in political science. When not coaching or studying, Paxton enjoys golfing, soccer, Overwatch, and spending time with his fiance Brooklyn. Paxton is a new CDC instructor in 2025 and is thrilled to get to work and share his knowledge of LD with campers.
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Chris Rhodes
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Christopher Rhodes attended New Philadelphia High School in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He served as debate captain all 4 years he competed, and throughout his career he primarily competed in LD. He is a 3-time state qualifier in LD and a 4-time national qualifier in World Schools Debate. At the 2024 national tournament, Chris and his WSD team placed 24th. He will be attending Cedarville University where he will also be competing for their forensics team. He will be majoring in Pastoral Ministry and earning his Masters of Divinity along with his undergraduate degree in five years. Outside of debate, Chris loves listening to music, weightlifting, and playing basketball. Chris was the third camper in CDC history to be a 4-year camper, attending camp from 2021 to 2024. He is super excited to be joining the LD staff in 2025 and to pass on his love of debate to others.
Olivia Lowry
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Olivia Lowry competed for Dallastown High School in Pennsylvania. She started as a Public Forum debater but then transitioned to Lincoln-Douglas starting in her sophomore year. She served as Co-Captain of her school's team for her last two years, finding this experience to be one of her favorites. In PF, Olivia was an Octafinalist at the NCFL Grand National Tournament in 2022. In LD, she is the reigning Pennsylvania state champion (2023 and 2024). In 2023, she won 1st place in LD at the Three Rivers Tournament at Upper Saint Clair, she was an Octafinalist in LD at the NCFL National Tournament, and she was awarded 8th Best LD Speaker at the NSDA National Tournament. Outside of debate, Olivia dedicates time to policy work with a gender advocacy NGO, hiking, spending time with friends, and reading a book from every country in the world. Olivia became a CDC LD instructor in 2024.
Olivia Declercq
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Olivia Declercq attended Whitmer High School where she competed in LD for four years and served as a team captain for two years. She is a four-year NSDA qualifier and was a member of the Runner-Up team in World Schools Debate in 2022. Her junior and senior years, she advanced to the elimination rounds for LD at the national tournament, making it to round 11 her senior year. Olivia also competed in LD at the NCFL national tournament four times and was a quarterfinalist twice and a semifinalist once. Outside of debate, she enjoys fantasy novels, board games, and listening to music. She is passionate about teaching traditional LD and empowering debaters to develop themselves into excellent public speakers and masters of persuasion. Olivia is attending the University of Alabama where she competes in college debate and studies quantitative economics.
Greta Wedel
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Greta Wedel attended Longmont High School in Colorado where she competed in LD for 3 years and served as a team captain her junior and senior year. In 2023, Greta was the Colorado 4A state champion in LD. She qualified for the NSDA national tournament a total of 5 times in 3 different events (LD, International Extemp, and Info) and competed in LD in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In 2022 Greta won 13th best speaker, and in 2023, she won 9th best speaker. In 2023, Greta was not only the Rocky Mountain North district champion in both LD and IX, she was also named district Student of the Year. She enjoys traditional LD with an emphasis on framework and philosophy and is passionate about helping debaters to excel. Greta is in her second year in the prelaw program at the University of Arizona, where she is an active member of the mock trial team. Outside of debate she enjoys solving the New York Times crossword and spending time in the great outdoors. Greta joined the CDC LD staff in 2024.
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Julia Bray
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Julia Bray competed in debate for three years at Gahanna Lincoln High School. She was a three-time state qualifier, placing fourth in Congressional Debate in her senior year, and she was a two-time national qualifier in Congress and United States Extemp. She coached Gahanna’s debate team for the last four years while she was attending Ohio State University. Julia graduated from OSU this past spring with a degree in Public Management, Leadership and Policy and Economics. She is currently working as a legal assistant at a firm in Austin, Texas. Julia first joined CDC in 2021 as a Congress and Extemp instructor, and she made the transition to the LD staff in 2024.
Genevieve Savage
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Genevieve Savage attended Parker School on the Big Island of Hawai’i where she competed in Lincoln-Douglas for three years. She was a three-time state qualifier and was the 2022 Hawaii LD state champion. In fact, after attending Classic Debate Camp in 2021, Genevieve was undefeated in the Hawaii Circuit throughout her junior year. She qualified for and competed in the 2022 NSDA National Tournament in Lincoln-Douglas. Outside of debate, Genevieve enjoys playing volleyball, reading, watching and analyzing psychological thrillers, and spending time with her puppy, Ichabod. She is studying English and Political Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. Genevieve attended CDC as a camper both in 2021 and 2022, and she became an instructor in 2023.
Rich Kawolics
Instructor - Lincoln-Douglas
Rich Kawolics began the Speech and Debate program at Laurel School in 2004, and since then he has coached all NSDA and OSDA events. His favorite event, however, has long been Lincoln-Douglas! Rich has coached five Ohio state champions in various events, including the 2023 LD state champion. He is an NSDA Three-Diamond coach. He is a former Chair of the OSDA Board of Directors and remains highly committed to equity and inclusion within the speech and debate community. At the 2023 Ohio state tournament, Rich was inducted in the OSDA Coaches Hall of Fame, making him the third CDC Hall of Fame coach, following Leslie Muhlbach (2014) and Peter Paik (2020). Rich joined the CDC LD staff in 2023, and he became the LD Curriculum Coordinator in 2024.