Highly qualified, expert instructors

SJDI’s mentorship program allows every student to receive a chance to work one-on-one with any 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!

Curriculum Directors

David Dosch

David Dosch is the Head LD debate coach at Immaculate Heart High School. David’s students have championed several major national tournaments: the Loyola (CA), Greenhill (TX), Presentation (CA), Alta (UT), and College Prep School (CA) Invitationals to name a few. His students have reached late elimination rounds at almost every national tournament, earning a total of 20+ bids to the Tournament of Champions. As a competitor, David debated for four years at John Marshall High School where he amassed 8 career bids and qualified to the TOC twice. David now studies Philosophy at UC Santa Barbara.

Sessions: All

Jackson Lallas

Jackson coaches LD at the Brentwood School. His students have won several tournaments this year, and two of his students cleared at the Tournament of Champions this year. He has also previously coached a freshman debater to qualify for the TOC. As a student, he debated at the Brentwood School from 2011-2015, earning 17 career bids, and reached quarterfinals of TOC, won Golden Desert, was runner up at the Glenbrooks Invitational, and was 6th place at NSDA nationals. Jackson is a senior at Stanford University studying Economics and Computer Science.

Areas of Expertise: Theory and Philosophy

Sessions: Core Session

Instructors

More instructors to be announced soon!

Ari is a senior at Lake Highland Preparatory school in Orlando, Florida. He has debated there for 5 years in LD. He has received a total of 16 career bids to the Tournament of Champions. His sophomore year, he won the Florida Blue Key Invitational. His junior year, he reached deep elimination rounds at numerous tournaments including semi-finals at the Yale and Apple Valley. His senior year, he most notably got to semi-finals of Apple Valley, Harvard and Glenbrooks, reached finals of Lexington, and won the New York City Invitational. Additionally, he was top speaker at the Glenbrooks and the New York City Invitational.

Adam Bistagne

Adam has been a coach at Loyola High School in Los Angeles for many years now. His students have reached elimination rounds of multiple national tournaments, including finals of the TOC. As a debater, he cleared at multiple tournaments his senior year, amassing 3 bids to the TOC where he ended his career with a 4-3 record. He can’t wait to bring his coaching experience to help students at SJDI!

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Philosophy

Sessions: Core Session

Jackson Deconcini

Jackson debated for Brentwood School for four years. He qualified to TOC his senior year, earning four bids. Jackson made it to late elimination rounds of many national tournaments, including the semi-final round of both the Jack Howe and Golden Desert Invitational. He was also top seed and 2nd speaker at the College Prep School Invitational. Jackson was the top junior at the NSDA national championships, placing 5th overall, and auto-qualified for the 2018 championships. He is excited to teach at SJDI this summer!

Areas of Expertise: Critiques, Debating Affirmative, and Policy arguments

Sessions: Core Session

Eric Deng

Eric is a senior at San Marino High School in San Marino, California where he debated for 4 years in numerous events with 2 years on the national circuit in LD. He has earned a total of 4 career bids so far to the Tournament of Champions. His senior year, he cleared at Greenhill, reached quarters at Loyola, semis at Presentation, and championed Long Beach, receiving speaker awards at all of them. He was also an Octafinalist at the Tournament of Champions and won 5th speaker at the Stanford Invitational. He has been invited to the Cal, DebateLA, and Voices Round Robins, and is also the first debater to qualify to the Tournament of Champions from his school.

Areas of Expertise: Critiques and Policy arguments

Sessions: Core Session

Soretti Donka

Soretti Donka debated for Niles West High School in Skokie, IL for three years and coached younger debaters in her remaining year. Throughout her career, she received four TOC bids, several speaker awards, and advanced into elimination rounds at several highly competitive tournaments. She is currently a sophomore at Vanderbilt University studying Economics and History.

Areas of Expertise: Policy and critiques

Sessions: Core Session

Danielle Dosch

Danielle Dosch debated for Immaculate Heart High School, where she was the captain of her team for two years. Danielle qualified to the Tournament of Champions her sophomore, junior, and senior years, accumulating a total of 13+ career bids. Her senior year, she championed the Loyola Invitational, where she was also top speaker and top seed, the Greenhill Invitational, the Presentation Invitational, the Alta Invitational, and the College Prep School Invitational. Danielle was a finalist in the Presentation Round Robin and the Damus Invitational, where she was also first speaker. She was also the top seed and an Octafinalist at the Tournament of Champions. She is very excited to be working at SJDI!

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments, Topicality, Debating Affirmative, and Critiques

Sessions: All

Nina Fridman

Nina Fridman debated for Glenbrook North High School, where she was the captain of the debate team, and will be debating at Northwestern University in the fall. During her senior year, she qualified to the TOC receiving 6 bids in policy debate and reached elimination rounds at each tournament she attended. She was a semifinalist at the TOC, the Barkley Forum, and the Crestian Policy Classic, a quarterfinalist at the University of Michigan HS debate tournament and the MBA Southern Bell Forum, and received 6 top 5 speaker awards. She loves debate and is excited to teach at the SJDI!

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Theory/Topicality

Sessions: Core Session

Laura Hosman

Laura is the Director of Debate at Denver East High School beginning in 2018-2019. Since 2015, Laura has served as an assistant debate coach at Denver East, specializing in LD and Policy debate. Laura competed in LD for 4 years at Hattiesburg High School, competing at national circuit tournaments including Grapevine, Florida Blue Key, and Harvard. Laura has been coaching debate for over 10 years, working with numerous programs throughout Mississippi and Colorado. Laura is currently a PhD student in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She has taught undergraduate courses including Introduction to International Relations Theory and Research Methods. She currently serves as a Production Editor for the Journal of Global Security Studies and a Research Assistant to Professor Tricia Olsen’s Corporations and Human Rights Database (CHRD) Project. Prior she completed her JD from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2013, where she served as Production Editor for the Journal of Islamic Law & Culture and a Research Assistant to Professor Uche Ewelukwa, S.J.D.

Areas of Expertise: Critiques and Policy Arguments

Sessions: Core Session

Whit Jackson

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Theory

Sessions: All

Annabelle Long

Annabelle Long debated for C.K. McClatchy High School, where she was president of the debate team for two years. She qualified to the TOC her senior year, earning five bids and reaching late elimination rounds at several of the tournaments she attended. She placed second at Notre Dame, was a semifinalist at the Jack Howe Invitational, and was a quarterfinalist at the Berkeley tournament. She competed at both the Greenhill and CPS Round Robins, finishing each with a winning record. She has coached elementary and middle school debate teams with great success for several years, and will be continuing her debate career at UC Berkeley this fall. She’s excited to work with everyone at the SJDI this summer!

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Critiques

Sessions: Core Session

Louisa Melcher

Louisa Melcher debated for Immaculate Heart in Los Angeles, and was captain of her team for two years. Throughout her career, she received TOC bids at Alta, Greenhill, Valley, and Berkeley, and competed in the Valley, Cal, and Battle for LA round robins. She is currently a sophomore at Columbia University.

Areas of Expertise: Philosophy and Theory

Sessions: All

Elyse Pham

Elyse Pham debated for four years at CK McClatchy High School, serving as captain of the policy debate team for two. During her senior year, she qualified to the Tournament of Champions, earning five bids and reaching elimination rounds of every tournament she attended. She debated in finals of Notre Dame, quarterfinals of Berkeley, and semifinals of Long Beach. She has also been consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top-20 teams on the Coaches’ Poll. In the fall, she’ll be continuing her debate career at Harvard College. She loves debate and can’t wait to work at the SJDI!

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Critiques

Sessions: Core Session

Leo Saenger

Leo Saenger debated for South Eugene High School, where he was president of the debate team. After becoming the first team from Oregon in the past 7 years to qualify to the TOC in policy debate in his sophomore year, he received 6 bids in his junior year and won the Meadows tournament. This past year, he’s won the California Round Robin and Jack Howe tournaments, reached the finals of Grapevine, semifinals of Greenhill, quarters of Blake and Notre Dame, and received 6 bids. In his spare time, Leo is the volunteer co-director of his local middle school debate program. Leo will attend Harvard College next fall, and is very excited to be working at the SJDI this summer!

Areas of expertise: Critiques and Policy arguments

Sessions: Core Session

Raam Tambe

Raam Tambe is a sophomore at Dartmouth College, and qualified to the NDT his first year, as well as clearing at major nationals throughout the season. In high school, in addition to winning the NSDA National Championship twice, he won the Greenhill, Pace and CPS round robins, as well as five octafinal bid tournaments: Greenhill, St Marks, Berkeley and Montgomery Bell twice, as part of the only intact team in history to win it more than once. He has made finals appearances at the 2017 TOC, Emory, Blake and the Glenbrooks, and was also top speaker at the TOC, NDCA, the St Marks tournament, and the MBA tournament.

Scott Wheeler

Scott is the Director of Debate at Peninsula High School, where he has been since 2013-14. In that time, Scott’s students have won, among others, the St. Marks tournament, Lexington, Stanford, CPS, Blake, Emory, and Loyola in Lincoln-Douglas debate and Greenhill, St. Marks, MBA, Berkeley, and NSDA nationals in policy debate. Scott has a BS in Communication from Northwestern and is an MA candidate in Pepperdine’s College of Communication. This is his second year teaching at SJDI.

Areas of Expertise: Policy arguments and Critiques

Sessions: Focus Session