Highly qualified, expert instructors

The Debate Intensive’s mentorship program allows every student to receive a chance to work one-on-one with an instructor of their choosing. Our staff are some of the most successful coaches in the nation, and our students can tell. Learn more about our staff below!

— David Si, Debate Intensive ’17

Check back regularly for additions to the Summer 2026 staff list!

Curriculum Directors

David Dosch

David Dosch is the founder and director of The Debate Intensive. David is also the Director of Debate at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, California, where he has coached the team for over eight years. David’s students have won several major national tournaments, including: The Greenhill Fall Classic, The Loyola Invitational, The College Prep LD Invitational, The Presentation Voices Invitational, The Alta Silver and Black Invitational. David’s students have earned a cumulative total of over 50 bids to the Tournament of Champions. As a competitor, David qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions and was in late elimination rounds of many national tournaments.

Clare Bradley

Clare Bradley is a policy debater at the University of Southern California and assistant coach at the Marlborough School in Los Angeles. In high school, she debated at Shawnee Mission South in Kansas where she made it to the octofinals of the Tournament of Champions and won both NCFL and NSDA nationals. She is looking forward to being an instructor this summer!

Gordon Krauss

Gordon Krauss is the head coach of Lincoln-Douglas debate at Peninsula High School. As a debater, he competed in Lincoln-Douglas at Claremont High School, where he qualified to the Tournament of Champions his senior year. He reached late elimination rounds of several national tournaments including the Alta Silver and Black Invitational and the Peninsula Invitational. Gordon has been an instructor at TDI for the past two years and is looking forward to this summer!

Coralynn Yang

Coralynn Yang currently debates for Emory University, where she is ranked #10 nationally, received a First Round At-Large bid to the NDT, and reached the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament as a sophomore. She previously debated for Peninsula High School, where she won multiple octafinals-bid tournaments and was Top Speaker at the Tournament of Champions. She is excited to return to TDI this year.

Directors of Student Life

Mikendra McCoy

With over 25 years of coaching competitive Speech and Debate, Mikendra McCoy is a distinguished leader in the field of forensics, renowned for her unwavering dedication and exceptional coaching expertise. Throughout her career, Mikendra has consistently exemplified the qualities of a visionary mentor and leader, inspiring those around her with her passion and commitment.

Mikendra’s proven track record of success is evident in the achievements of her students, who have excelled in league tournaments, prestigious invitationals, and CHSSA State Championships.

While Mikendra McCoy takes great pride in her students’ successes, she is equally passionate about supporting and mentoring new coaches in the field. Her coaching expertise has played a pivotal role in the development of many individuals who now lead thriving forensics programs at both the high school and collegiate levels.

Beyond her coaching role, Mikendra McCoy’s influence extends widely across the forensics community. Her extensive experience includes past service on the NPDL Board, participation in NSDA committees, and contributions as a camp educator and facilitator. Currently, as President of the California High School Speech Association (CHSSA), Mikendra continues to demonstrate her unwavering commitment to both student welfare and the advancement of forensics education. In recognition of her exceptional contributions, Mikendra was inducted into the CHSSA Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2017.

Nia Gordon

Nia is a third-year Political Science student at California State University, Long Beach. She has competed in Parliamentary Debate, IPDA, LD, and a variety of speech events. In addition to being an active competitor, Nia serves as a speech coach for Peninsula High School, where she works with students competing in different California High School Speech Association events. She is excited to join TDI this summer.

Lincoln Douglas and Policy Staff

Joaquin Arreola

Joaquin Arreola is a San Diego State University alumnus and aspiring law student with more than six years of policy debate experience. Joaquin competed in the Division I policy debate circuit for Southwestern College before joining the University of Southern California Debate Team through a consortium partnership with San Diego State University. While at Southwestern College, Joaquin and his partner became the first team in the college’s history to qualify for the National Debate Tournament. That season, they also advanced to the octafinals of the Cross Examination Debate Association National Championship. Joaquin was recognized with the CEDA All-American Debate Award and was named a National Debate Scholar with Summa Cum Laude honors. During his final competitive season, Joaquin represented USC at many of the nation’s premier tournaments, including Harvard, Wake Forest, and Kentucky.

Athena Chan

Athena Chan is an incoming freshman at Northwestern University and competed in policy debate at the Quarry Lane School for four years. She reached elimination rounds at the TOC with 9 career bids, and advanced to the semifinals of Cal, NDCA, and more. She was awarded the J.W. Patterson Fellowship for her debate achievements, and has dedicated significant time to mentoring novices and leading labs at W.in, an organization supporting gender-minority debaters. She is looking forward to bringing that experience to TDI this summer!

Patrick Fox

Patrick Fox is the assistant debate coach at Dulles High School, and competed in policy debate for the University of Houston. Prior to his move to Dulles, Pat coached the first ever qualifiers to the TOC from the Houston Urban Debate League, and has coached numerous critical and policy teams to the Tournament of Champions. In LD, Patrick’s debaters have won the Glenbrooks, TFA State, Grapevine, Stanford, Valley, and reached late elimination rounds of the TOC, as well as deep runs and speaker awards at many other highly competitive national tournaments. As a debater, Patrick was in quarterfinals of CEDA Nationals and received numerous speaker awards and elim appearances at major tournaments. Pat has coached a wide variety of styles of debate, but when not cutting cards his academic research focuses on Marxism, Lacan, and cybernetics. This will be his second summer at TDI, and he’s very excited to be returning as part of the instructor staff!

Nicolette Huff

Nicolette Huff debated for Immaculate Heart High School for four years and served as team captain during her senior year. She advanced to elimination rounds at several major tournaments, including the quarterfinals of the Jack Howe and Nano Nagle, and elimination rounds at Meadows, Damus, Peninsula, Harvard Westlake, USC, Cal, Heart of Texas, Loyola, and La Costa. She was an octafinalist at the NDCA National Championships. She attended TDI as a student and is excited to return as an instructor.

Mason Kim

Mason Kim debated for Peninsula High School for five years. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions in Policy Debate three times and earned eight TOC bids. He reached the quarterfinals of Cal and Damus, the finals of the Lexington Invitational and UNLV, and the octafinals of the Tournament of Champions. He attended TDI for two summers and is excited to return as an instructor.

Sarah Martin

Sarah Martin is a policy debater at the University of Southern California and an assistant coach at Immaculate Heart High School. In high school, she debated at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles, where she earned eight TOC bids and qualified to the Tournament of Champions in both her junior and senior years. She reached the finals of the Damus Tournament and the TOC Digital Series, won Alta Silver and Black, and received multiple speaker awards, including top speaker at the Jack Howe Invitational. She is looking forward to returning to TDI this summer.

Jonathan Meza

Om Modi

Sofia Shah

Bryce Sheffield

Bryce Sheffield is currently a rising senior at the University of Houston where he also debates.  He plans to pursue a PhD in History. In his college debate career, he has reached the NDT, elims of regional tournaments, and elims of CEDA. As a coach, his students have been champions of tournaments like CPS and Glenbrooks, finals and late elims of the Tournament of Champions, and have consistently bid at other majors like Berkeley and Greenhill. He enjoy coaching mainly policy arguments but has extensive experience in critical debate particularly K v K debates.

Emma Sobel

Emma Sobel debated for Immaculate Heart High School for four years and served as team captain. She qualified to the Tournament of Champions in both her junior and senior years and advanced to the elimination rounds. Emma reached late elimination rounds at several major tournaments, including the finals of the La Costa Canyon Winter Classic and the semifinals of the Loyola Round Robin (2×) and the Peninsula Invitational. She earned speaker awards at the Jack Howe Memorial Tournament, Nano Nagle Tournament, Damus Invitational, and the Glenbrooks Speech and Debate Tournament. She attended TDI as a student and is excited to return as an instructor.

Brian Son

Brian Son is an assistant coach at Peninsula High School and a rising sophomore at the University of California, Irvine. He debated for Peninsula High School, reaching the TOC bid round three times at Berkeley, TOC Digital #2, and Meadows, and also competed at the Harvard Westlake Round Robin.

Callum Theiding

Sterling Utovac

Sterling Utovac debated for four years at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, focusing on critical and policy-oriented arguments. As a senior, he was the top seed and speaker at the Tournament of Champions, where he reached the quarterfinals. He also reached finals at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championships and won the Barkley Forum. Throughout his career, he emphasized research development and peer mentorship. Sterling attended TDI as both a sophomore and a senior and is excited to return as an instructor. He will be attending Dartmouth College in the fall.

Ava Wegmann-Gatarz

Ava Wegmann-Gatarz is an assistant coach at Immaculate Heart High School, where she debated for four years. As a student, she qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice and advanced to late elimination rounds at several national tournaments, including finals of the Jack Howe Invitational, semifinals of the Damus Hollywood Invitational (after reaching quarterfinals the year prior), quarterfinals of the USC Trojan Invitational, and semifinals of the Meadows Invitational. During her junior and senior years, Ava earned nine speaker awards and served as team captain. She currently attends American University in Washington, D.C.

Vontrez White

Vontrez White is a graduate student and debate coach at Cal State Fullerton. Vontrez has reached the deep elimination rounds of many college tournaments, including making it to the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament and the semifinals of CEDA. As a coach, his students championed and reached late elimination rounds of several tournaments in the LD circuit. He is excited to teach at TDI this summer!

Ethan Yang

Jonathan Yang

Bolang Zhu