Our Summer Staff

The Matthew Harris Ornstein Washington Summer Debate Institute is dedicated to bringing together all-star instructors for our students. Unlike most debate camps, we hold a competitive, national talent search. Also unlike most debate camps, we are look for staff members with policy debate expertise AND experience as a teacher and/or coaching to pass along their knowledge and skills.
 
Being a highly successful competitor doesn’t automatically translate into being a good instructor, and different labs require different skillsets to teach. We value instructional experience, diverse backgrounds and experiences, debate knowledge, and a team-first attitude when hiring. 
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Our Staff (8th Summer reflected above) reflects the great debate community here in the D.C. area. Our staff includes a lot of flashy resume lines regarding state and national championships (as a coach or competitor) at the alphabet soup of High School and College culminative tournaments like the NDT, CEDA, UDNC, NCFL, NFL/NSDA, TOC, MS Nationals, etc. 

These accolades are impressive, but we also value the ability to build relationships with students and instructional skills. Many of our best instructors didn’t win nationals, but are strong communicators and know how to empower others. We offer a wide range of labs, ranging from middle school novices who have never seen a debate round before to folks hunting for bids to the TOC, which we value equally. Different skills are required to teach different ages and levels of experience, and we hire accordingly.

Some Fast Facts

Historically, we have averaged rough gender parity (among those who choose to identify), and have had a supermajority-minority staff. 

We’ve had instructors from 31 states so far!

Coach / Judge with an Urban Debate League during the season
70%
Urban Debate Alumni (WUDL or elsewhere, indicated with an * below)
44%
Undergraduates (rarely rising freshmen, but some have blown us away)
47%
Graduate Students
15%
Post-graduate professionals, mostly classroom teachers or the staff of other urban debate leagues (which we love to collaborate with)
39%
Residents of the greater DMV who work with the league in some capacity year-round
68%

2025 Staff

2026 Staff Coming Soon

Aisha Bah*

Wesleyan University, Debate Coach, Eleanor Roosevelt High School (MD)

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Gem Balthazar

Asst. Camp Director

Liv Birnstad*

Harvard University, Coach, Boston Debate League Travel Team

Eric Clarke*

Intelligence Analyst, MITRE, Debate Coach, School Without Walls

McAlister Clabaugh

Washington Urban Debate League

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Nina Darden

Towson University

Zahra

Zahra Dinkins*

Spellman University

Clarke

Clarke Dickens*

University of Pennsylvania

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Danielle Dupree*

Camp Director
Washington Urban Debate League

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Zara Escobar*

Yale University

Ervin

Wheezy Ervin*

University of Kentucky

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Forrest Gertin

Debate Coach, Forest Park High School

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Haven Howard*

Penn State University

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Nala King

Debate Coach, DC International

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Kevin Kuswa

Director of Debate, Berkeley Prep

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Jennifer Matson

Debate Coach, CMIT North

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Dennis Martinez*

Washington Urban Debate League

Parker

Parker McCauley*

Howard University,
Debate Coach, Creative Minds

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Jackson Mills

University of Southern California

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Maria Montgomery*

Washington Urban Debate League Coach

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Joanne Opoku

Amherst College

Dr. Omar Price

Debate Coach, DuVal High School

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Kailey Ramlal*

Temple University

Justin Sayoto*

Wake Forest University

Aubrey Semple*


Assistant Director of Debate, Riverdale Country School (NY)

Niko Sims

Asst. Director of Debate, University of Wyoming

Noah

Noah Smith*

Morehouse University

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Anna Stockstill

University of Kentucky

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Aisha Taylor*

Jacksonville University

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David Trigaux

Washington Urban Debate League

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Joseph Villaflor*

Suwanee College of the South

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Tommy White

George Washington University

Keoni Scott-Reid Award

To commemorate the legacy of a founding member of our community and an alumni of both the Matthew Harris Ornstein Washington Summer Debate Institute and the Washington Urban Debate League, we have established the Keoni Scott-Reid Outstanding Instructor Award.

Keoni, who transitioned in 2019, was the first winner of the Matthew Harris Ornstein Outstanding Debater award. He had an illustrious competitive career, but was even more impactful as a coach and instructor, returning to the summer institute every year upon graduation and inspiring hundreds of young people. 

After consultation with peers, former competitors, coaches, family members and mentors, this award will recognize the instructor who displays the creativity, relationship building, empathy, and humor that we miss today.

A stipend will be attached to the award. This is the partner award to the Matthew Harris Ornstein Outstanding Debater Award, which recognizes the most outstanding student at each summer institute. Any member of the student body or staff may make a nomination, and all members of the staff are eligible, save for those that have already won it. 

2025: Noah Smith

Morehouse College, '27
Baltimore City College '23

2024: Noah Joshua

Debate Coach,
Washington Urban Debate League
Largo High School, '18

2023: Eric Clarke

Intelligence Analyst,
MITRE
and
Debate Coach,
School Without Walls
Georgetown University '23
Columbia Heights EC '19

2022: Alexa Figueroa

University of Maryland '25
Debate Coach,
College Park Academy

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2021: Danielle Dupree

Howard University '23
Ass. Debate Coach,
Capital City PCS