Roundtable Debate Academy is a nonprofit organization founded by incoming Stanford student Kathy Duan, dedicated to giving more people access to debate.

Meet RDA Founder 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.

CEO, Cate School Chapter Founder

Meet Naomi Chen

Naomi discovered her passion for competitive debate in middle school. By 2021, she was ranking 18th out of 210 at the OCDL Fall Scramble, 15th out of 150 at the IVDL tournament, and securing back-to-back 4th-place team finishes in the IVDL March and May competitions.

But for Naomi, debate is more than trophies. It’s developing the skills that can make a difference. In 2023-24, she became a two-time SPAR Debate Finalist (top 5) and two-time Extemporaneous Speech Finalist (top 3) at the Dunn Debate Invitationals. Yet her proudest achievements came from building opportunities for her peers. Naomi:

• Founded Cate School's Speech & Debate Club, writing the first student-led proposal of its kind in five years to establish it as an official program

•Led and mentored Cate's first off-campus debate teams, including events she co-developed with rival schools in the region

• Launched Cate's two-year National Ethics Bowl team, competing in its first season and organizing the next

Now, as the Founder of Roundtable's Cate Chapter, Naomi leads a team of student debate instructors, paying forward the transformative power of speech and debate that helped her change lives.

Meet your Webb Chapter Co-Presidents

Co-President / Teacher

Freya Fu

Freya began her debate journey in sixth grade, quickly developing a passion through years of training and competition. After placing highly throughout middle school, she decided in 9th and 10th grade to step back from her school's team and compete independently in national parliamentary debate circuits. During that time, she earned 1st place speaker at the 2024 NPDL nationals, placed as an Octofinalist overall, ranked in the Top 20 at the Berkeley International Parliamentary Tournament, and secured 1st place Speaker and Silver Team honors at the National Forensics Championships. She also won 1st Place Speaker and Team Champion titles at the 2024 UCLA Invitational. In 11th grade, Freya returned to compete with Webb's debate team, helping lead the team to an 8th place finish at their league's last tournament.

With over seven years of experience, Freya is excited to become a co-CEO debate instructor for the RDA program!

Co-President / Teacher

Ben Madanski

Ben Madanski discovered his passion for speech and debate in sixth grade and has since cultivated years of experience in the field. throughout middle school, he competed in numerous MSPDP-style debates, earning top-five placements at regional tournaments, even during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and online competition formats. He continued to pursue debate at The Webb Schools, receiving multiple accolades for both his performance and teamwork.

In recent years, Ben has shifted his focus from competing to teaching, dedicating his time to developing Round Table Debate, an initiative aimed at expanding access to quality debate education through summer programs. With approximately six years of experience in speech and debate, Ben is eager to take the next step by sharing his knowledge and passion with aspiring debaters. He hopes to inspire a new generation of students to find their voice and develop a lasting appreciation for public speaking

Marketing Co-Heads

JOSIE SONG

Hi! My name is Josie Song, and I’m a rising sophomore currently attending Cate School. I will be one of your debate teachers and marketing co-heads for this year. I’ve primarily specialized in British Parliament, and have debated since the fifth grade and attended multiple debate competitions in South Korea. I currently run a TikTok account advocating for women in law that has collected over 600k likes and 2,000 followers. I’m excited to work with you!

SERENA ZHANG

Hi, my name is Serena Zhang, and I'm a rising sophomore at Cate School. I am one of Roundtable's debate teachers as well as one of your marketing co-heads. I have been debating and speech-making since middle school and participated in numerous Model UN conferences including Harvard Model Congress, NYU MUN, and UCLA MUN. Recently, I represented Cate in the Southern California High School Ethics Bowl regionals.I also manage the Teen Mind's United Instagram as a fellow co-founder, amassing more than 7,000 followers.

Teachers.

Meet your debate specialists. Here for you.

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

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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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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!

Join the Team