Eric Palmer

Pomona College BA
University of Pittsburgh Ph.D Candidate

Eric debated for two and a half years at Howland High School in Ohio. He was top speaker at the Tournament of Champions and won or participated in final rounds at Berkeley, Emory, Blake, Omaha Westside, the Southwest Round Robin, and the Chesapeake Bay Round Robin. Eric cleared to elimination rounds two years in a row at the TOC, reaching octafinals his junior year and quarterfinals his senior year.

As a coach, his students have won or reached final rounds at the Greenhill Round Robin, Berkeley (twice), St. Mark’s, Emory (twice), Stanford (three times), the Stanford Round Robin (twice), Valley (three times), Iowa Caucus, Dowling, Harker (three times), the Harker Round Robin, the Victory Briefs Tournament (twice), James Logan, the Voices Round Robin (twice), College Prep School (twice), and Omaha Westside. His students have also had semifinal finishes at the Glenbrooks, Apple Valley, and Blake, as well as placing 3rd at the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin and finishing in the top 6 at NFL Nationals. Eric’s students have cleared at the Tournament of Champions nine times. In 2006, he coached the champion, and his students were one ballot from closing out the tournament, with his other student finishing in semifinals. In 2008, he coached a semifinalist at the TOC. In 2009, he coached a quarterfinalist and the finalist at the TOC. His students have won top speaker at TOC twice.

Eric is currently a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include philosophy of mind, ethics, and Kant.

Beth Palmer

Kent State University BS, MA

Since its inception, Beth Palmer has led the administrative dimensions of NSD directing student supervision, providing oversight in residential life affairs, and ensuring that the operational and logistical aspects of the camp run smoothly. In addition to playing a central role in the preparatory work that goes into the camp each year, during the operating period of NSD Beth serves as the primary director for matters related to student life and event operations. Beth adds to the NSD staff over thirty years of experience in both private and public sector work in education as an instructor, consultant, and administrator. She has also taught courses in communication at Kent State University and courses concerning educational theory and the relationship between language and cognition at Youngstown State University.

Ross Brown

Dartmouth College BA 2014

Ross debated at Valley High School for the last four years. He qualified three times to the Tournament of Champions, advancing to elimination rounds each year he attended. Ross made it to octafinals of the TOC both his sophomore and junior years, and he took 2nd place his senior year. Over his debate career, Ross amassed 14 bids. He won Iowa Caucus and finished 2nd at Apple Valley, Berkeley, Dowling, and Blake. He advanced to late elimination rounds at nearly every other national circuit he attended, including the Glenbrooks, Stanford, Westside, and Emory. Ross was second speaker at both the Glenbrooks and Blake. Although he never attended, Ross was invited to the MBA Round Robin both his junior and senior years. Ross also won the Iowa State LD championship three times.

Chris Catterton

University of Chicago BA 2012

Chris debated for four years at Analy High School in Sebastopol, California. Before debating on the national circuit, Chris specialized in Parli debate, where he placed in the top five at the California State tournament two years in a row. During his senior year, he won the Harker Invitational and the Voices Round Robin and was in finals of the Harker Round Robin and Meadows tournament. Chris captured four bids and ended his career by clearing at the TOC. As a coach at Lake Highland (2009), Torrey Pines, & Mountain View (2010), his students have reached semis or better at Valley, The Minneapple, The Crestian, CPS, Stanford, Berkeley, the Iowa RR, & NDCA. Chris also helps coach at his former high school, where his students have reached the semifinals of the California State Tournament. Chris is a Political Science major at the University of Chicago, with a focus in International Relations.

Patrick Diehl

University of Chicago BA 2011

Patrick Diehl has served as an assistant coach at Scarsdale High School for the last three years. His students have reached late elimination rounds at many of the nation's top tournaments. This includes: a finalist at the Glenbrooks, semi-finalists at Bronx, Apple Valley and Blake, and quarter finalists at Greenhill and Emory. His students have also performed well at the TOC, twice finishing in the octafinals and once reaching the quarter-finals. As a student Patrick was the top speaker and champion at the 2007 TOC.

Daniel Garber

Daniel Garber debated for four years at Mountain View High School in California. He qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions, receiving seven bids his senior year. Daniel participated in elimination rounds of the Greenhill Invitational (quarterfinals); Big Bronx (semifinals); Glenbooks Invitational (quarterfinals); College Prep School Tournament (champion); Barkley Forum (finals); Victory Briefs Tournament (semifinals); Stanford Invitational; California Invitational; Harker Invitational; California State Tournament; and the Tournament of Champions. Daniel participated in round robins such as Voices, which he won twice; MBA; and Bronx. He currently coaches Mountain View and Los Altos High Schools in California. Daniel is a rising sophomore at Harvard College, probably concentrating in economics.

Derek Green

Rice University BA
Northwestern University Ph.D Candidate

Derek Green participated in LD for three years at Lakeville Senior HS (MN), and coached or consulted the activity for a number of years at for his alma mater, Lakeville South HS (MN), and at Cinco Ranch HS (Katy, TX). As a debater, he reached elimination rounds at numerous major national circuit tournaments, reached the quarterfinals at the Minnesota state tournament, and qualified for the 2004 Tournament of Champions. As a coach/consultant, he has helped debaters qualify for elimination rounds at numerous major national circuit tournaments. Derek has a BA (Philosophy [with honors], History), summa cum laude from Rice University in Houston Texas. He is currently pursuing a PhD in philosophy at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

Perry Green

Harvard University BA 2014

Perry Green debated locally and nationally for four years at Walt Whitman High School. Sophomore year he was a semifinalist at the NCFL. He qualified to the TOC his junior and senior years, and earned a total of 8 bids. His junior year he won Manchester, was a semifinalist at Wake Forrest, bid at Harvard, and had a winning record at the TOC. His senior year he participated in out-rounds at the TOC, Greenhill, and Blake, was the champion of Emory and Harvard, and the co-champion of Big Bronx.

Ken Hershey

Yale University BA 2013

Ken Hershey debated for four years for Scarsdale High School in New York. He qualified to the TOC his sophomore, junior, and senior years, amassing 10 TOC bids over the course of his career. Ken's paramount achievements include being a finalist at the Glenbrooks, a semi-finalist at VBT and Blake, and a quarterfinalist at Greenhill, St. Mark's, and Big Bronx (twice). He competed in the Vassar, MBA, and Greenhill Round Robins, placing 4th at MBA and 2nd at Greenhill. This will be Ken's fourth summer at NSD.

Wade Houston

University of Alabama BA 2012

Wade debated for three years at Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham, Alabama. During his two years on the national circuit, he collected a total of eight bids to the Tournament of Champions, qualifying both his junior and senior years. Over the course of his career, Wade won Emory and Vestavia and was in quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions, finals of the Greenhill round robin, semifinals of Glenbrooks and Apple Valley, and late outrounds of numerous other tournaments including Greenhill and Valley. Wade also placed among the top five speakers at Glenbrooks and Stanford and was invited to the MBA round robin. In addition to his success on the national circuit, Wade reached the finals of the Alabama state tournament his junior year. Wade’s students have won St. Mark's and cleared at the Tournament of Champions.

Matt Kawahara

Shimer College BA 2014

Matt competed for Valley High School for 4 years on the local and national circuit. He is a former state champion. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions three times, and to the NFL National tournament twice. He has won speaker awards or advanced to elimination rounds at many major national tournaments, including Apple Valley, Glenbrooks, Berkeley, Emory, VBT, Blake, Iowa Caucus and the Omaha Westside Warrior. He was a finalist at the Berkeley and Glenbrooks tournaments. He advanced to the runoff round at the 2010 Tournament of Champions.

Emily Massey

Yale University BA 2014

Emily debated for four years at Walt Whitman High School in Maryland. She qualified twice to the TOC. During her senior year, Emily was top speaker and a semifinalist at Greenhill, closed out finals of Bronx, won third place at the MBA Round Robin, and broke at each of the seven TOC-bid tournaments she attended.

Dave McGinnis

Macalester College BA
St. Cloud State University MS

Dave McGinnis graduated from Apple Valley High School in 1993, where he was a state champion in speech and a national qualifier in Lincoln-Douglas debate. He co-founded the Macalester College Mock Trial team, winning JV Nationals and placing third at the American Mock Trial Association Grand Nationals in 1996. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English literature, and holds a Master’s Degree in Education Curriculum and Instruction.

Also in 1996, Dave founded the Highland Park (MN) speech and debate team, which he coached for nine years. In 2005, Dave moved to California and coached the Lynbrook High School debate team. Currently, Dave is the head debate coach at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Dave’s students have reached the highest levels of debate success. Dave has qualified students to the TOC every year since 2000. He has coached students to the Top 10 at NFL nationals three times in eight years. His students have reached late elimination rounds at every major national tournament, including final round appearances at: Berkeley, Yale, Valley, Emory, and the Minnesota and California state debate tournaments, and tournament championships at: Apple Valley, Stanford, Cedar Rapids Washington, Omaha Westside, the Iowa state debate tournament, St. Mark’s, and the 2007 TOC. Dave also coached a finalist at the 2010 TOC.

Daniel Moerner

Pomona College BA 2013

Daniel Moerner debated for four years at Los Altos High School in California. He won Valley, the Victory Briefs Tournament, Stanford (twice), Berkeley, the Vassar Round Robin, the Harker Round Robin, and the Voices Round Robin. As a junior, he was a semifinalist and top speaker at the TOC. As a senior, he was the TOC finalist. His students have won the Victory Briefs Tournament and the NDCA Championships. He is currently studying philosophy at Pomona College and coaching the Mountain View-Los Altos debate team.

Marcus Moretti

Yale University BA 2013

Marcus debated for four years at Scarsdale High School in New York. He qualified for the Tournament of Champions his sophomore, junior, and senior years, and amassed a total of 8 bids. Marcus earned those bids at The Glenbrooks, Valley, St. Mark's, Apple Valley, Monticello, and Manchester, and advanced to outrounds at VBT and Blake. At the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin his senior year, he placed fifth overall. As a first-year-out, Marcus has coached debaters to finals at The Glenbrooks, Blake, Berkeley, and the Tournament of Champions.

Stephen Renzi

Drake University BA

Stephen has coached policy debate for over seven years advancing teams to elimination rounds at many national competitions as well as qualifying teams for TOC and NFL Nationals. He returns to NSD for a fourth year.

Stefanie Rohde

University of Pennsylvania BS 2014

Stefanie Rohde debated for four years for Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. During her career on the national circuit, she qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions and accumulated a total of five career bids. Her senior year, she broke at every TOC-qualifying tournament she attended, and was in quarterfinals of the Yale and Harvard tournaments. This fall, she will matriculate at the University of Pennsylvania and will study biochemistry and genetics. She also intends to participate in Penn for Youth Debate, a group at Penn that starts debate teams in urban middle and high schools.

Alex Smith

Harvard Law School JD 2013

Alex Smith debated for 8 years at La Jolla High School and UC Berkeley. In high school, Alex earned 3 bids to the TOC and was top speaker at Berkeley. In college parliamentary debate, he was the first person to clear at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence four consecutive years and was in late elimination rounds of virtually every national tournament. He has coached at La Reina, Lynbrook, MVLA, and Torrey Pines in addition to working with the Berkeley team. He will be attending Harvard Law School in the fall.

Eric Thurm

University of Chicago BA 2014

Eric Thurm debated for four years for Scarsdale High School in New York. He qualified to the Tournament of Champions twice and earned one bid his sophomore year for a total of 9 career bids. He was in elimination rounds of almost every tournament he attended his junior and senior years, and was the champion, first speaker, and first seed of the Yale Invitational, the co-champion of the Robert J. Kaiser Invitational (Monticello), a finalist at the Vassar Round Robin (where he was also first speaker) and the Harker Invitational, a semifinalist at the Minneapple (where he was third speaker), Big Bronx (where he was second seed), and the Lexington Invitational (where he was first seed, as a sophomore), and a quarterfinalist at Emory. Eric was also a participant in the MBA Round Robin and was an octafinalist at the Tournament of Champions. Eric will be attending the University of Chicago in the fall.