Roundtable Debate Academy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving more people access to debate.
Founder’s Letter:
As a debater of five years, 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.
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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.
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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.
Kathy Duan
Founder
Kathy is a junior at The Webb Schools based in California. She has 6 years of debate experience, with MSPDP, HSPDP, LD, and PF. She is Webb's debate captain, leading the team to its best showing yet. Her achievements in debate include:
LA County Championship High School Public Debate Program: 5th Place Speaker and 6th Place Team
Marlborough Middle School and Novice Public Forum Debate: 5th Place Team and 6th Place Speaker
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IVDL League Championship Middle School Public Debate Program May 2021: 2nd Place Team 4th Place Speaker, and Top Debate Team of Foothill Country Day School
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IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program March 2021: 5th Place Team and 11th Place Speaker
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IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program January 2021: 7th Place Team
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program November 2020: 10th Place Speaker
Online CDLI Championship Middle School Public Debate Program September 2020: 2nd Place Team and 3rd Place Speaker
Competitor in NYC Tournament May 2020
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program February 2020: 3rd Place Team, 12th Place Speaker, and Top Debate Team of Foothill Country Day School
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program December 2019: 13th Place Team and 25th Place Speaker
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program October 2019: 14th Place Team
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program March 2019: 16th Place Team
IVDL Middle School Public Debate Program February 2019: 12th Place Team and Top Debate Team of Foothill Country Day School
Teachers
Leia Albornoz
Hi, my name is Leia Albornoz. I've been debating and judging parliamentary debate for 4 years. Throughout middle school, I participated in 7+ tournaments and attended regionals in 2019. During quarantine, I volunteered to judge middle school parliamentary debates.
Notable awards:
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5 Top debate team awards
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13th place speaker – 2019
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15th place speaker – 2019
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16th place team – 2019
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11th place team – 2019
Julie Zhu
Hi! My name is Julie Zhu. I'm a junior at The Webb Schools (CA). I've been debating for 4 years, mainly experienced in Public Forum. I'm also a public/OO speaker. I've been a member of the school’s debate team since middle school.
Some achievements in debate include:
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Marlborough Middle School and Novice Public Forum Debate: 5th place
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2020 NSDA Shanghai: 7th place
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2019 NSDA Hangzhou: 3rd place, outstanding speaker
Simon Xu
Hello everyone! My name is Simon Xu. I’ve been debating for about five years now and I’m primarily a 3rd speaker. I started debating in 6th grade and have attended, probably, over a dozen tournaments in MSPDP and HSPDP. I’ve also attended regionals and OCDL Championships in 8th grade. The majority of my debate experience is in Parliamentary Debate and Hybrid-Parliamentary.
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Achievements:
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1st Place Team, 2nd Place Speaker - Claremont College Invitational Debate Tournament
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5 Place Team - Regionals
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7th Place Team - OCDL Winter Classic
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2nd Place Team - OCDL Fall Scramble
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9th Place Speaker, 12 Place Team - OCDL Championships
Allen Wan
Hi! My name is Allen Wan. I’ve been debating for around 4 years, with experience in Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and MSPDP debate, participating in a few local tournaments. As a public school student in middle school, our school didn’t have a debate club or team. I was fortunate to be able to find and afford classes outside of school to join debate, but many are not. Therefore, I joined Roundtable Debate in order to help provide more accessible knowledge and experience for those who have a passion for debate but might have the opportunity.
Sophie Lin
Hi I’m Sophie from the Webb schools’26 and I joined RDA because I wanted to help make debate more accessible for everyone. I was involved with debate and MUN through middle school, unfortunately I was not able to continue with my debate journey mostly due to covid. I am currently in the outreach branch of RDA, where I hope to apply my ability to connect with different people and broaden the impacts of RDA. In my spare time, I am a passionate dancer and golfer.
Some achievements in debate include:
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Marlborough Middle School and Novice Public Forum Debate: 5th place
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2020 NSDA Shanghai: 7th place
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2019 NSDA Hangzhou: 3rd place, outstanding speaker
Brianna Stodghill
Brianna has been a competitive debater for five years, with both middle school and high school experience. She has competed successfully in both smaller local tournaments as well as larger regional debate competitions. Given that Brianna served as debate captain while in middle school and now serves as a student coach for middle school, she has extensive knowledge in parliamentary debate and experience teaching it.
Notable awards:
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5 Top debate team awards
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13th place speaker – 2019
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15th place speaker – 2019
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16th place team – 2019
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11th place team – 2019
Natalie Au
I decided to join rda as a volunteer after helping out with the political engagement camp this past summer. I love that I can bring awareness to social justice issues, and I hope to continue volunteering by managing outreach!
Notable awards:
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5 Top debate team awards
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13th place speaker – 2019
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15th place speaker – 2019
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16th place team – 2019
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11th place team – 2019
Jerry Hu
Hi, my name is Jerry Hu, and I am a sophomore at the Webb School. I've been doing public forum debate since 5th grade, attending many debate competitions throughout my debate experience. I have also done some judging of public forums and British Parliamentary debates.
Notable awards:
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5 Top debate team awards
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13th place speaker – 2019
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15th place speaker – 2019
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16th place team – 2019
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11th place team – 2019
Kira Armstrong
Hi! I'm Kira! I started speech in the 6th grade and have done Harvard Model Congress for two years, leading and teaching our team in the second year. At my old school I was chosen to give a speech at our baccalaureate ceremony. I really enjoy working with younger kids and am excited to help teach RDA!
Notable awards:
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5 Top debate team awards
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13th place speaker – 2019
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15th place speaker – 2019
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16th place team – 2019
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11th place team – 2019