SNFI Staff
Administrators
Rich Boltizar, Associate Director
Rich Boltizar is the Associate Director of the SNFI camp, working with each of the Division Directors throughout the actual program. Rich is the student President of the Stanford Debate Society and the Associate Director of the Stanford Invitational tournament--one of the largest high school tournaments in the nation. He also works as an Associate Administrative Director and Chief Technology Officer for Education Unlimited. In college, Rich competes in both APDA (American format) and British Parliamentary Debate and was recently elected as a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Board of Trustees. Rich debated for Capital High School in Boise, Idaho, and cleared at many of the top Policy Debate tournaments in the country, including Berkeley and Whitman, and earning bids at the University of Texas at Austin, Alta and Gonzaga.
Matthew Fraser, Executive Director
Matt Fraser is the Executive Director of the SNFI, and the Director of Forensics at Stanford University and at the Head-Royce School. As a collegiate coach, Mr. Fraser has coached teams to elimination round success in all three types of collegiate debate, including elimination rounds at the National Debate Tournament. His high school teams have cleared to elimination rounds at every major national tournament, including Greenhill, Wake Forest, Valley, Bronx, St. Mark’s, the Glenbrooks, Redlands, USC, Emory, Berkeley, Stanford, the TOC and NFL Nationals. 2008 will be Mr. Fraser’s 18th year directing the SNFI, during which the camp has grown from 40 to as many as 400 students.
Jenny Herbert-Creek, Associate Director
Jenny Herbert Creek is an executive administrator for the SNFI. She is an honors graduate of Stanford University, where she competed in policy debate and reached elimination rounds at tournaments such as CEDA Nationals. She was an officer of the Stanford Debate Society and a public speaking instructor for graduate students at Stanford’s Technical Communication Program. Jenny is currently an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. This summer will be her eleventh summer working with SNFI.
Dan Meyers, Division Director, Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Dan Meyers is the new division director for Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the SNFI and is the Director of Lincoln-Douglas Debate at The Meadows School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Previously, Dan was the Director of Debate at Clovis West high school in Fresno and Presentation High School in San Jose, California. where he coached both policy and LD extensively. In LD his students have cleared at tournaments across California and the nation, including Stanford, Yale, Glenbrooks, Alta, Apple Valley, Greenhill, St. Marks, Wake Forest, the Victory Briefs Tournament, College Prep, Valley and the Crestian Classic. Dan’s students have also participated in the Stanford, MBA and Greenhill Round Robins. Dan has qualified LD debaters to both the Tournament of Champions and NFL Nationals and returns to SNFI for his fourth summer and his first as director.
Les Phillips, Division Director & Instructor, Public Forum
Les Phillips is one of the most successful debate coaches of modern history. Mr. Phillips directed forensics at Lexington High School (MA) for more than twenty years, and during that time he coached students to numerous national invitational championships, as well as TOC and NCFL championships in policy debate (first place finishes, and top speaker awards, at TOC). He has worked at more than twenty-five summer workshops, is a five diamond NFL coach (an honor attained by only about 1% of all coaches) and former NFL National Council member who served with the NFL during some of Public Forum's formative years. Mr. Phillips is unique in being qualified to coach in policy, LD, and having taught parli at prior camps as well, so he is well versed on both the practical and theoretical issues involved in approaching topics of various sorts, ranging from policy to value to statement of fact. He has coached both high school and collegiate debate, and worked at some of the nation's top summer institutes, including Dartmouth and the Stanford National Forensic Institute.
Zachary Prax, Division Director & Instructor, Individual Events
Zachary Prax continues for his fourth year as an instructor and his second as the Director of Individual Events with SNFI. A coach of six years at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota, Zach coaches LD and Public Forum, student congress, and extemporaneous speaking. In extemporaneous speaking, he has coached students to the final round of the NFL National Tournament, the NCFL Grand National Tournament, and the Minnesota State Tournament, and to outrounds at the TOC of Extemp. In Congress, Zach's students have appeared in the final round of Glenbrooks, Emory, and the NCFL Grand National Tournament.
Corey Turoff, Division Director, Policy Debate
Corey Turoff is the division director for policy debate at the SNFI and a policy debate coach at Stanford University and the Head Royce School in California. Corey debated at the University of Southern California where he qualified for elimination rounds at every major national tournament including the quarterfinals of CEDA Nationals in 2002. After graduating, Corey coached at Damien High School in Southern California. His teams there were in the finals of the Georgetown Day tournament, octofinals or better at USC, Redlands, Berkeley, St. Marks, the Highland Round Robin, and the Tournament of Champions. Corey now teaches and coaches debate at the Head-Royce School where his teams have been in elimination rounds at St. Marks, USC, Redlands, Wake Forest, Emory, Stanford, Berkeley and Lexington. Corey has previously directed the National Debate Institute DC. This is his sixth year at the SNFI.
Faculty
Nadia Arid, LD Instructor
Nadia Arid attended Presentation HS in San Jose where she is currently the assistant coach. As a competitor she was a regular in elimination rounds. As a senior she qualified to the TOC. Nadia is considered to be one of the better young judges on the circuit. This fall Nadia will be a Junior at Stanford.
Ashley Artmann, Public Forum Instructor
Ashley Artmann is an undergraduate at Stanford University and a member of the Stanford Debate Society. In high school, she competed in Public Forum for three years at Green Valley High School in Las Vegas, receiving awards such as 7th at NFL Nationals in 2007, top 40 Nationals 2008, Berkeley Invitational Champion 2008, two-time Nevada State Champion, participant in 1st Annual PF Challenge, as well as many local and regional titles. Ashley also competed extensively in Extemp, earning 4th at NFL Nationals 2008 in Extemp Comm and reaching quarterfinals in 2006, 2008 Nevada State Champion in Extemp, 1st at La Costa Canyon, 2nd at Long Beach Invitational, as well as local titles. Not only was Ashley captain of PF and Extemp on her high school team, she has begun to work with local schools in the area.
Judy Butler, Policy Instructor
Judy Butler is one of the most experienced summer instructors in the nation, having taught at over 50 debate workshop sessions. Judy has coached debate at Emory University, Georgia State University, Spelman College, Woodward Academy, and August Prep. Her teams have won numerous college and high school tournaments. She is currently assisting the debate program at Augusta Prep in Augusta, Georgia. Judy always gets rave reviews as a dynamic and thought-provoking educator.
Luis Cardenas, IE Instructor
With combined coaching experience of over 40 years - Sarah Rosenberg and Luis Cardenas have had students in hundreds of final rounds across the country. Their students have won DUO at CFL Nationals and have tied for 1st in DUO at NFL Nationals twice. They have had over 20 National Finalists and have won countless of State Champions in California, New York, Philadelphia and Florida. They have coached for Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Florida Forensic Institute, Bronx Prep, Holy Ghost Prep, San Marino High School, Cleveland High School and The PUC Schools.
Tim Hogan, LD Instructor
Tim Hogan attended Apple Valley High School from 2000-2004. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2008 with a BA in Political Science and Cultural Studies. As a competitor Tim was the runner-up at the TOC his senior year, and a quarter-finalist his junior year. Tim has coached students to late outrounds or championships at a variety of invitationals including Greenhill, Valley, St. Marks, Blake, Emory, Glenbrooks, Stanford, Berkeley, CPS, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Harker, Logan, Santa Clara, and the Golden Desert. He has coached students to success at the MBA, Greenhill, and Iowa Round Robins. In post-season tournaments his students have also excelled. At the 2009 MN State tournament 3 of his students were in outrounds: a quarterfinalist, semi-finalist, and the eventual champion. He also coached the champion of the 2008 and 2009 TOC and a quarterfinalist of the 2006 TOC.
Beena Koshy, LD Instructor
Beena Koshy is truly one of the best teachers and most successful young coaches in the nation. In high school she was a state champion in speech and a state finalist in debate. She traveled the circuit advancing to out rounds at such tournaments as St. Marks, Bronx, Glenbrooks, Valley and Emory, NFL, CFL and the TOC where she was tenth speaker. After attending college at the University of Minnesota, she returned to her forensics roots and moved to Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, Massachusetts and has since served as Director Of Debate and Coach of Speech. In 2006 her student was state champion in Massachusetts and runner up at the National Forensic League Texas Bluebonnet Nationals!
Brian Manuel, Policy Instructor
Brian is currently coaching for both Chattahoochee High School in Atlanta, Georgia and Harvard Debate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior, Brian coached for Scranton High School in Scranton, Pennsylvania from 2001 to 2004, where he built the program from scratch and within four years qualified a team to the Tournament of Champions. He also coached for Cathedral Preparatory School in Erie, Pennsylvania. From 2004 to 2008, achieving similar accolades, Brian's Cathedral Prep teams have participated in elimination rounds of every major national tournament, including the Tournament of Champions, and have had final round appearances at Wake Forest, Bronx Science, The University of Michigan, and the 2007 National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament. He has coached the champions of the 2003 Bronx Science tournament and the 2008 Barkley Forum tournament held at Emory University. Brian’s Chattahoochee High School teams have made appearances in late elimination rounds at every national tournament they've attended. They’ve also participated in a number of national round robins, including: The Greenhill School, Georgetown University, The University of Michigan, Pace Academy, and Harvard University. In 2009, he has already successfully qualified three teams to the Tournament of Champions, being held at the University of Kentucky.
JR Maycock, Policy Instructor
JR Maycock is a student at the University of Utah. JR debated for four years in high school at Highland in Salt Lake City where he was in out rounds of every major high school tournament and qualified for the TOC. JR now coaches in Utah for Highland and Rowland Hall and judges at various national circuit tournaments. JR's students have been in out rounds of a variety of national tournaments over the last few years including NCFLs, Meadows, Golden Desert, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. JR is best known for his accessibility and easy-going attitude. This will be JR's fourth year teaching at the SNFI.
Anish Mitra, IE & Parliamentary Instructor
Anish Mitra is the current captain of the Stanford University Parliamentary Debate team. In addition to winning the 2007-2008 National Championship in Parli, Anish enjoyed great success during his high school career in Extemp. His results include winning the Harvard tournament, placing second at CFL Nationals, competing three times in Finals of NFL Nationals in US Extemp and placing 3rd at Nationals in US Extemp.
Shanara Reid-Brinkley, Policy Instructor
Shanara Reid-Brinkley focuses her scholarly research on African American culture and public argumentation, with a research program specializing in public argument and performance, cultural studies, and Black Feminist Theory. Reid-Brinkley has a specific research interest in black popular culture, including hip hop politics, culture, and activism. As the incoming Director of Debate, Reid-Brinkley is responsible for the competitive arm of the William Pitt Debating Union, recruiting students from around the country to participate in the University’s long history of successful competition. Her current scholarship focuses on the interaction between black culture and rhetorical practice and social conflict within high school and college policy debate.
Sarah Rosenberg, IE Instructor
With combined coaching experience of over 40 years - Sarah Rosenberg and Luis Cardenas have had students in hundreds of final rounds across the country. Their students have won DUO at CFL Nationals and have tied for 1st in DUO at NFL Nationals twice. They have had over 20 National Finalists and have won countless of State Champions in California, New York, Philadelphia and Florida. They have coached for Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Florida Forensic Institute, Bronx Prep, Holy Ghost Prep, San Marino High School, Cleveland High School and The PUC Schools.
Sara Sanchez, Policy Instructor
Sara Sanchez is the Director of Debate at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. So far this year, Sara's teams have been in elimination rounds at Wake Forest, New Trier, St. Mark's, Big Bronx, the Glenbrooks, Ohio Valley, Blake, Montgomery Bell Academy, Harvard and Lakeland. As an assistant coach at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's Sara coached the 2007 Blake and Alta champions and her teams were in elimination rounds of most major high school tournaments, including the Tournament of Champions. She is also an institute instructor at Michigan.
Megan Schrader, Parliamentary Instructor
Megan Schrader won speaker awards at every tournament she attended in 2008 and has advanced to elimination rounds at every national tournament. Her freshman year, she and her partner were ranked as the #10 parli team in the nation, and in 2007, they were the youngest team to ever place in the top 10 at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. She won the UPS tournament, placed second at Whitman, the Point Loma Round Robin, and Purdue. Megan is a Presidential Scholar at the University of Puget Sound, where she studies the International Political Economy, and enjoys arguments about international trade, nuclear proliferation, and domestic politics. This will be Megan's third year teaching parliamentary debate at SNFI.
Rachel Schy, Policy Instructor
Rachel Schy was a highly successful high school debater for Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois. In high school Rachel was in late out rounds of every major national tournament. As a college debater for both the University of North Texas and the University of Redlands, Rachel has enjoyed a continued high level of success, reaching the elimination rounds of a majority of major tournaments including CEDA, Wake Forest, UC Berkeley, and the Pepperdine tournament. Rachel graduated from the University of Redlands last year and will be attending law school in the fall. This will be Rachel's third year teaching at the SNFI.
jon sharp, Swing Lab Director
jon sharp has directed the Swing Lab at Stanford for a decade. Currently, jon is an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky and the coordinator of the Jefferson County Debate League in Kentucky. In addition to directing the Swing Lab program, jon is the Director of the Fellows program at the Kentucky Debate Institute. jon has also taught and/or directed at the Berkeley, Emory, Bates, and Kentucky summer institutes. As a college debater for Emory, jon and his partner won the West Georgia and Harvard tournaments, and the Dartmouth Round Robin. As a coach at the University of West Georgia, the squad appeared in the finals of CEDA Nationals an unprecedented three times running, with two National Championships. jon has also been named three times to the student-selected panel of "Critics of the Year." Recently, jon finished his doctoral studies in communication at the University of Southern California and coached for New Trier High School.
Mike Spirtos, LD Instructor
Mike Spirtos is the assistant coach at the Meadows School in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a competitor he was in late elimination rounds of every major LD national invitational and late elimination rounds of the TOC. As a coach Mike's students have advanced twice to the elimination rounds at TOC. Mike will be a junior at UChicago this fall.
Johanna Tyler, LD Instructor
Johanna Tyler currently attends University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of Crowley High School in Texas. Until her junior year, Johanna debated largely on the highly competitive Dallas circuit and won many local tournaments. As a senior, she made the transition to successful competition on a national level. She debated the bid round or better at the St. Mark's Heart of Texas Invitational, the Barkley Forum for High Schools (Emory), and the California Invitational (Berkeley), and won speaker awards at a number of tournaments, including the Minneapple, the Stanford National Invitational, and the Grapevine Classic.
Matt Vassar, Parliamentary Curriculum Director & Instructor
With two degrees from Stanford University, including a M.A. in Communication, Matt Vassar has spent all of his adult life teaching debate and public speaking. As a coach, he trained winners to some of the largest parliamentary debate invitationals, including the Marty Cronin Invitational, the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational, and the Santa Clara University Invitational. He has also trained parliamentary teams to the semi-final round of the elite International Tournament of Champions (sponsored by the International Debate Education Association [IDEA]), the semi-final round of the North American Debating Championships, and the semi-final round of the California State Championship. Matt previously served as president of the now-defunct National Parliamentary Debate League, and currently serves as an instructor/curriculum development in public speaking at Stanford University. This is Matt's fifth year at the Stanford National Forensic Institute, and his third year serving as the director of the parliamentary debate program.
David Weeks, LD Instructor
David Weeks debated at Saint Martin’s Episcopal and Highland Park for four years. He received bids at St. Mark’s, Emory, and Greenhill. He was third speaker at Stanford and sixth speaker at St. Mark’s, Stanford, and the T.O.C. He won the Victory Briefs Round Robin and placed second at the T.O.C. His students have reached finals and semifinals of the Greenhill Round Robin, Emory, Vestavia Hills, Glenbrooks, and Apple Valley. He will be a senior at Swarthmore College, where he studies Political Science and Asian Studies.