About Us | Roundtable Debate

Roundtable Debate Academy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving more people access to debate.

Meet RDA's Executive Team!

Strong debaters with proven experience, combining extensive competition exposure with the ability to think critically, construct persuasive arguments, and respond effectively under pressure.

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Serena Zhang

CEO, President of RoundTable Debate

Hi, my name is Serena Zhang, and I’m a rising junior at Cate School. I am the CEO and President of Round Table Debate Academy. My journey in speech and debate started off with my participation in Model United Nations conferences such as Harvard Model Congress, NYU MUN, and UCLA MUN. I serve as a Co-Head of Cate’s Varsity Debate team, Ewe Speaks, and am a two-year semifinalist of the Southern California Ethics Bowl.

Josie Song

Vice-President of RoundTable Debate / Co-Mock Trial Head

Hi! My name is Josie Song and I am a rising junior at Cate School. Currently I serve as the Vice-President of RoundTable Debate and am a co-founder of RoundTable's mock trial curriculum. My experience with debate started in early middle school with British Parliamentary. Apart of Cate's Varsity Ethics Bowl Team we advanced as Southern Californian Semi-Finalists.

Kaia Yee

Webb Chapter President

Hi, my name is Kaia Yee! I am a rising junior at The Webb Schools. I am the Webb Chapter President for Round Table Debate Academy. I have been doing debate for 6 years, primarily competing in Parliamentary Debate. In addition to competing, I help my local middle school speech and debate program. I recently placed 2nd at the HSPDP tournament and earned 3rd place in Original Advocacy Speech at the Big Wave Dave Invitational.

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Analise Gomez

Co-Mock Trial Head

Hi, my name is Analise Gomez, and I am a rising senior at Cate School. I am a teacher for RoundTable’s mock trial camp and a co-founder of the mock trial curriculum. I have participated in mock trial throughout high school and have been awarded the best attorney award in my two most recent trials. In addition to mock trial, I love representing my school in Model UN and have dedicated myself to creating a law review journal.

Meet RDA Founder and Chairperson Kathy Duan!

Read Kathy's Founder's Letter:

As a debater, I have experienced the merits that debate has offered me: critical thinking skills, public speaking skills, collaboration, and most importantly, my passion for politics and social justice. Unfortunately, these opportunities are not evenly distributed. With only 30% of schools offering debate and most debate camps being extremely expensive, debate is an exclusive activity. I wanted to do something to help.

Therefore, I founded Roundtable Debate Academy. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving more people access to debate by offering free debate classes. I, as well as our team of teachers, hope to bring the joy of debate to more people.

If you believe in our mission, you have found the right place. I strongly believe that our work will contribute to addressing the issues of educational inequality.

Teachers.

Meet your debate specialists. Here for you.

Student instructors from California's top boarding schools are bringing debate education to you.

Debate Instructor

Jerry Hu

Hi, my name is Jerry Hu, and I am a rising senior at the Webb School. I've been doing public forum debate since 5th grade, attending many national debate competitions throughout my debate career. I'm also involved in PF and British Parliamentary debate judging. Some of my honors include:

- Debate NHSDLC 2022 Spring National Online Tournament V Champions

-Debate NHSDLC 2022 Spring National Online Tournament Quarterfinalist, No.2 Speaker Award

Debate Instructor

Simon Xu

Hi, I'm Simon! I've done debate for over 5 years now in mostly hybrid-parliamentary formats. I've attended dozens of middle school and several high school debate tournaments and placed at regionals and OCDL Championships as well. I've been a teacher at RDA for about 3 years now and have taught and planned several of our summer and winter camps!

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Debate Instructor

Ashley Chan

Hi! I’m Ashley, and I am a sophomore at Cate School. I have 2 years of debate experience on my previous school’s competitive debate team, and I’ve taken part in opportunities such as Ethics Bowl and BruinMUN. I love to challenge myself to think on my feet and consider different perspectives through debate, and am excited to share this passion with you all!

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Debate Instructor

Madeline Losey

Hi! My name is Madeline, and aside from my work in the classroom, I have been actively attending Model United Nations conferences for two years now, which includes being in a regional bodies committee at HMun, hosted at Harvard, being in a Crisis committee at BruinMun, hosted at UCLA, and being in a general assembly at ChoMun, hosted at UChicago. I am well-practiced in public speaking and the vocal clarity needed to persuade an audience under pressure successfully.

Debate Instructor

Yerim Suh

Hello, I am Yerim! I am a rising sophomore at The Webb Schools. Debate has always been one of my biggest interests as it challenges people to think deeply about ideas and learn from it. I was introduced to parliamentary debate in middle school and officially started to join competitions this year. Some of my awards include 6th place best team award and 15th place best speaker award in the Los Angeles Championship Claremont Colleges Debate.

Debate Instructor

Analise Gomez

Throughout my high school career, I have participated in several debate events, but have primarily focused on mock trials. My mock trial experience has strengthened my public speaking skills while giving me the confidence to express my opinions and thoughts.

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Debate Instructor

Karina Strofs

Hi, my name is Karina, and I am passionate about behavioral science and ethics. I have also interned at York and York Law and taken multiple criminal trial debate classes.

Join the Team