2008 Staff Listings
LD Director STACY THOMAS coached the 2007 NFL National Champion in Lincoln Douglas as the head coach at The Hockaday School in Dallas. In addition, she coached a sophomore to the third place finish at NFL Nationals, putting her team one round away from closing out LD finals. She also cleared three students to octofinals at the 2007 Tournament of Champions. This year, her team again has qualified three students for the 2008 TOC and again has closed out the North Texas Longhorns NFL District. Her students have previously won UIL State, been in finals of TFA State, closed out finals of the UT Longhorn Classic, and have closed out quarterfinals at local tournaments. She has coached students to late elimination rounds at nearly every prestigious national competition, such as Greenhill, St. Mark's, Glenbrooks, Emory, Wake Forest, Valley, Lexington, Big Bronx, and the Victory Briefs Tournament. Ms. Thomas is known for being a hands-on coach who judges LD nearly every weekend of the school year. She formerly directed the debate team at S. F. Austin High School in Austin and has previously worked at the Championship Group in Texas and the Victory Briefs Institute in California. In high school, she was a successful Lincoln-Douglas debater herself, winning the 1989 Arizona State Championship. She holds a master’s in education from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on curriculum development and a bachelor’s in journalism from Northwestern University. She is looking forward to heading up UTNIF for her fourth summer.
Andrew COCKROFT graduates this year from Elkins High School in the Houston area, where he has been a Lincoln-Douglas debater for four years. Despite having limited ability to travel, Andrew has made the most of his opportunities in Texas, and with great self motivation, he has been competitive among the top national debaters. This year, his hard work has earned him qualification to the Tournament of Champions as a finalist at Grapevine and a semifinalist at St. Mark's. He has been in elimination rounds of every tournament he has attended his senior year, including Memorial and the UT Longhorn Classic. He also has qualified for TFA state for the last three years, where he cleared as second seed and finished as a quarterfinalist this past March. As a former UTNIF student, Andrew is excited to return to the camp as a lab instructor. Andrew will attend UT-Austin in the fall.
Mack COLEMAN has enjoyed success both as a LD coach and competitor. He previously was the LD assistant at Churchill High School in San Antonio. In only his first two years as a coach, Mack advanced students to elimination rounds at every TOC qualifying tournament in Texas, including Greenhill and St. Mark's, as well as several prestigious competitions around the country – such as Emory and Glenbrooks. Mack also has coached debaters to NFL Nationals. His students have placed third at UIL State, won the UT Longhorn Classic, and participated in both the Greenhill and MBA round robins. When in high school, Mack competed for Marcus High School in the Dallas area. As a debater, he qualified for NFL Nationals, was a finalist at Churchill, and reached elimination rounds at St. Mark's, VBT, UT-Austin, Grapevine, Colleyville, and Memorial. Previously, he has been a camp instructor at The Championship Group. Mack currently is a senior at UT-Austin, where he is pursuing a double major in English honors and economics. He eventually plans to apply to law school. We are proud to welcome him to the UTNIF staff as a lab instructor.
Dan JENNIS debated Lincoln-Douglas for three years at Hopkins High School in Minnesota. He competed at the 2007 Tournament of Champions after receiving an at-large acceptance following his semifinals finish at Stanford. A well-rounded debater, he achieved success at both the local and national levels, reaching elimination rounds at such tournaments as Valley, Iowa Caucus, Dowling, St. Louis Park, Blake, and Omaha. As former captain of his team, Dan helped several underclassmen advance to varsity elimination rounds when at Hopkins, and last year, he received rave reviews from the students he worked with at UTNIF for his personable teaching style and ability to clearly communicate debate concepts. He received similar positive feedback as an instructor for the second session of VBI. Currently, Dan is a Radio, Television, and Film major at Northwestern University. He is happy to be spending a second summer with the UTNIF students as a lab instructor.
Eric MELIN coaches debate and teaches history at Southlake Carroll High School in the DFW area. Two of his sophomore students closed out the 2007 Heart of Texas NFL District and advanced to late elimination rounds at NFL Nationals. His debaters have qualified for the Tournament of Champions and been in elimination rounds at many prestigious competitions, such as TFA State, Harvard, VBT, Greenhill, St. Mark’s, Churchill, and the UT Longhorn Classic. As a student, Eric was very successful himself in LD when he attended Grapevine High School. He was the champion of TFA State, the Greenhill Fall Classic, and the inaugural Colleyville-Heritage Winter Invitational. He also placed seventh at NFL Nationals and was a quarterfinalist at the Tournament of Champions, which he twice attended. Additionally, Eric was invited to several major round robins, was a semifinalist at St. Mark’s, and competed in elimination rounds at Emory, Glenbrooks, and Isidore Newman. Today, Eric is a highly preferred judge with previous experience instructing camp at VBI and UNT’s Mean Green Workshops. We are proud to bring Eric to UTNIF as our lead instructor of top lab due not only to his impressive knowledge of debate but also because of his natural gifts as an educator. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UT-Austin.
Jenn MILLER debated for four years, attending both Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage High Schools in the DFW area. Before graduating in 2004, she earned many accolades locally and nationally. She qualified for TFA State for three years, as well as for NFL Nationals and the Tournament of Champions her senior year. She also reached elimination rounds at every national tournament she attended her senior year, including her first place finish at Vestavia Hills. She was invited to the Greenhill Round Robin and Southwest Round Robin, where she placed second. Since graduating, Jenn has become a highly respected member of the Texas debate community. She served as the assistant LD coach at Grapevine from 2005 to 2007 and now coaches at Marcus High School in Flower Mound. In past summers, Jenn has worked at the Capitol Debate Institute and UNT’s Mean Green Workshops. This is her third summer on the UTNIF staff, where she enjoys leading our novice lab. In reviews, Jenn’s UTNIF students have said that she puts the “fun” in fundamentals.
Melanie PLAZA graduates this year from the Bronx High School of Science in New York, where she is the captain and former novice-director of the school's nationally-competitive program. She has competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate for four years and found success locally, regionally, and nationally. During this time, she placed emphasis on working with the younger members of her team to help them learn debate. Competitively, Melanie has qualified to the Tournament of Champions, NFL Nationals, and is a four-time qualifier to the New York State Forensic League Tournament. She also has twice competed at the Vassar and Hockaday Lone Star Round Robins and been in the elimination rounds at a wide variety of tournaments, including Harvard, Hendrick Hudson, VBT, Yale, Lexington, Manchester, and the New York State Tournament. She was named the New York City NFL District Student of the Year in 2008. Melanie will attend Yale University this fall and is excited to join UTNIF this summer as a lab instructor.
Kristen RAY is a veteran UTNIF lab instructor and former student. She attended UTNIF for three years and is returning for her seventh summer as an instructor. When she debated for Georgetown High School, she was part of the only finals closeout in LD in TFA State history and won the UT Longhorn Classic. She also advanced to elimination rounds at such prestigious tournaments as Greenhill, Grapevine, and Memorial. Kristen previously has helped coach at S.F. Austin and Westwood High Schools in Austin, TX, and has taught at VBI. She holds two bachelor's degrees from UT-Austin, one in Plan II Honors and the other in art history. This year she has been teaching literacy at the pre-k through middle school levels. She will start work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall on a master's degree in Modern and Contemporary Art, Theory, and Criticism.
Andy WERNER was the 2006 TFA State Champion. When competing for the Strake Jesuit team in Houston, he led the program to a first place position on the National Debate Rankings for LD. He twice qualified for the Tournament of Champions, earning bids at St. Mark’s, Apple Valley, Glenbrooks, Blake, Memorial, and the UT Longhorn Classic. Andy also was invited to several national round robins, earning second place at the 2006 Victory Briefs Round Robin in California and third place at the 2005 Skyway Challenge in Minnesota. Currently, he is an assistant coach for Hockaday and spends many weekends judging and coaching debate while attending Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he is majoring in philosophy. In high school, Andy attended UTNIF three times as a student and is joining us for his third summer as a lab instructor.
Alex ACKROYD joins the UTNIF staff this summer as a lab assistant after graduating from Palo Alto High School in California, where she is the vice-captain of her team. Alex has successfully debated LD for three years on both her local and national circuits. She has been in elimination rounds at Alta, Harker, and James Logan, and has competed in the Voices, Vassar, and Lone Star round robins. Even as a competitor, Alex has maintained a focus on education by helping to coach the Palo Alto novices, as well as the LD program at her local middle school in order to support the fledgling team. She participated in the top lab at the Victory Briefs Institute in 2007, and this summer, UTNIF is proud to bring her ever-positive attitude and insightful intelligence to our camp so that she can share her love of debate with our students. Alex will attend the University of California at Santa Barbara in the fall, where she plans to study economics.
Ryan LESTER returns to UTNIF this summer as an administrative assistant after attending the camp as a student for the past three summers. Ryan graduates this year from Dulles High School in the Houston area with four years of LD experience. Ryan has been an example of dedication and perseverance paying off in debate. After bumpy freshman and sophomore years, Ryan worked diligently to break at three quarters of the tournaments he attended junior year, including TFA State, the UT Longhorn Classic, and Memorial. He repeated all three accomplishments his senior year, as well as advancing to elimination at the Colleyville-Heritage Winter Invitational and earning the title of the University of Florida Blue Key Round Robin Champion. Ryan also has been an active participant in local Houston tournaments, winning Westfield this year. Ryan is enthusiastic about spending another summer at UTNIF and hopes to give back to the camp that supported him by supporting other students in reaching their goals. He will attend St. Edward’s University in Austin in the fall where he plans to study philosophy and political science.
All faculty listings subject to change without notice and final contractual approval by the University of Texas at Austin. |
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