EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jim Hanson Executive Director, Climb the Mountain Speech and Debate Foundation Mr. Hanson is responsible for the instructional creation and organization of the Foundation. Mr. Hanson directs the camp. He has been a Professor of Communication, Rhetoric and Argument and speech and debate coach for most of his life. As coach, his speech and debate team won 5 squad NDPA national championships, first place CEDA team in the nation (Jessica Clarke and Adam Symonds), first place NDT speaker (Charles Olney), and first place NPDA speaker (Miranda Morton) as well as over 1000 debate awards and 500 individual speaking events awards. Jim works had to setup the programs, instructors, judges, and instructional materials so they work best for each of our students. Email him at any time you have a question.

OUR INSTRUCTORS-JUDGES

	Adilina Aguirre Adilina serves as an assistant to Jim Hanson doing data analysis, preparing teams, reviewing student results. Adilina has also worked as an instructor in LD debate and speaking events in both of which she has extensive experience. Adilina is an incredibly smart instructor that will help you see how to improve clarifying concepts and strategies effectively.
	Alex Cruz Alex did Parliamentary and Congress style debate for 2.5 years during high school. He is the Team Captain of Seattle University's debate program, doing both British Parliamentary style debate and Impromptu speaking. As well as this, he is one of Climb the Mountain’s most popular instructors with students and schools specifically requesting his instruction. He has judged and assisted in the running of the Seattle University 3-12 grades tournaments. He has also worked with children in multiple summer camp settings, from traditional overnight camps to day camps. He also worked as a summer school teacher's assistance, teaching students about internet safety and how to work technology properly. Alex brings his energy, conversational and relatable style to instructing you.
	Alex Raymond To be provided.
	Alex Vaughan Alexander has had extensive experience in speech and debate. This is in large part due to his up bringing and being made to do speech and debate from a very young age (his mom is a debate coach!). Alex participated in Climb programs in middle school and successfully competed at Seattle Academy. Alex attends St. John’s College in Maryland. Alex serves as an assistant to Jim Hanson working as greeter, judge, and occasionally instructing with expertise and care. He is ready to help you.
	Andrew Monteith Andrew did Public Forum for two and a half years in high school, attending the TOC and later teaching middle and high schoolers how to debate for his high school. The bulk of his debate experience comes from parliamentary debate in college, for which he has made finals of the North American Championship and Yale APDA, while also teaching APDA and BP to new members of the college circuit. Andrew has experience working with students outside of speech and debate, volunteering as an assistant boys' Frisbee coach for two seasons in high school and working at a summer camp between years of college. Andrew has worked closely with the Bates Administration to grow the Bates Debate Team as well as dozens of other program leaders around the United States. Additionally, he has represented the college in public debates such as the Martin Luther King Day Debate, held annually with debaters from Morehouse. Andrew will work tirelessly to make you a better speaker and debater.
	Beth Cole Beth Cole participated in collegiate CEDA debate 1987-1989 for East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. Beth won several awards including sharing a partnership of the Collegiate State Championship Debater of Tennessee in 1989. Beth became ETSU’s Director of Forensics for 1990-1993. She coached students in CEDA debate and individual speaking events to numerous awards, including a Special Coaches’ Award at Southern Connecticut University Tournament, Spring 1991 and the overall team Tennessee State Championship in Spring 1992. Beth returned to her debate roots upon retirement in fall 2021. Beth began online debate judging and has since judged hundreds of rounds of debate and individual speaking events, including Public Forum Finals for Harvard and Stanford University tournaments. Beth began judging work for Climb the Mountain in Fall 2021 and soon also began teaching elementary, middle school, and high school debate for them as well as teaching for Climb’s online camps. She truly loves teaching debate and values the life changing, transformative skills debate has to offer.
	Calvin Pittser In their debate Career, Calvin competed at over 30 tournaments, including 6 national circuit tournaments. They have broken from their sophomore year at the Stanford Invitational Tournament to the National Tournament their senior year. They have also taught novice debaters how to debate student congress and how to speak in impromptu for two years. Calvin has attended over 45 labs in their sophomore year when the requirement was 10 and in junior and senior year they attended over 70 when the requirement was 20. Calvin was a member and unofficial CEO of a lunch group at his former high school called the "Lunch Bunch" officially that ensured that no one ate lunch alone out of fear or social anxiety. Calvin also worked with multiple grades to help prevent bullying and give all students a safe space to eat, talk, and make friends. Calvin is a popular teacher working with our elementary, middle school debaters along with Congressional debaters in middle school and high school, plus our speaking events program.
	Christina Wardwell Christina has taught in our program for over a year providing excellent instruction. She has taken public speaking at the University of Washington and has participating in Toast Masters meetings. She volunteered at a Montessori school working with kids. She nannied a family for several years and helped with their afterschool homework. She was involved in fundraising for a radio show program (KYRS). She is a grant writer for a mental health organization (TheScootyFund). She won a Chase Youth Award for establishing a successful hiking club in high school. She has the energy and knowledge to make you a better speaker and debater.
	Corey Paulson Corey has been coaching the Open Window Middle School debate team for 10 years. She was also president of the Pacific Northwest Debate League for 5 years. Corey’s teams repeatedly went 3-0 and 4-0 at the tournaments and often placed 1^st in sweepstakes and in the experienced as well as other divisions. They have been a middle school teacher for 20 years. As a teacher, they have been involved in extensive outreach work with administration and parents. Corey brings incredible energy and an amazing background in teaching and coaching to work with Climb!
	Ed Strok Ed has been a member of the SU Debate Club for three years and has participated in numerous debating tournaments at the college level in both BP and IPDA formats, such as SU IV, YODL, Lewis & Clark, and Climb the Mountain. Throughout his debating career in both high school and college, he has won multiple awards, including awards from tournaments hosted by Climb the Mountain. He is extremely supportive of team members. He has organized practices and workshops about debates for them. He also has a unique perspective on debate as an ESL debater, which might benefit ESL students who are just starting on their debate path. He has been involved in a number of MS, Elementary, and High School Tournaments hosted by Seattle University as a judge and tab assistant. He has always received positive reviews as a judge from both his peers and the students he judged. Ed will bring his kind and thoughtful instruction to our Climbers.
	Emerald Maple Emma has been competing for the Whitworth debate team since January of 2021. She has won multiple awards in both speech and debate rounds. She moved up from novice to junior in just one semester. She grew up helping her parents teach a homeschooled curriculum to four younger siblings. Additionally, she has worked at a summer camp in 2021 and taught Sunday school growing up. She was one of the founders of the Storyteller's Club at Whitworth and later served as their secretary. She has experience fundraising for service opportunities. Emma brings welcoming and very knowledgeable instruction to our students.
	Erin Phillips Erin Phillips has been involved with Climb for four years, working as a judge and assistant for Jim. She has prior experience in administrative work, fundraising, organizational, and outreach work through the FIRST Robotics Competition. Additionally, she has served as secretary for the Oregon State University Kendo Club, handling outreach and inter-team communications. Erin brings those talents to the Climb program along with excellent judging at middle school debate tournaments. Erin is willing to take on any role in camp if needed, serving as instructor, judge, photographer, or technical support if required. She is ready to bring her technical and administrative experience to the table to help benefit Climb the Mountain. She is friendly, outgoing, and ready to help make the experience of camp a memorable one.
	Geneva Luteria Geneva has collectively six years of experience in speech and debate. She began her journey by participating in Lincoln Douglas and Foreign Extemporaneous events, excelling particularly in the latter, where she became a state champion. During college, she has debated for the University of Alaska Anchorage's Seawolf Debate Program in British Parliamentary. Geneva's dedication has granted her numerous breaks, speaker awards, and two tournament wins. She is excited to provide insight and understanding to debate for you.
	Hafsa Abdi Hafsa has been engaged in public speaking and communication in work at Bellevue college. Hafsa has been a volunteer at a youth program in Redmond, WA which included Islamic religion studies classes and activities that involved creativity. Hafsa also did outreach work including being part of an activism workshop that encouraged students to use their skills to stand up for a right that they believe in. Hafsa has taught elementary and middle school debate in our program for over a year. Hafsa brings clear, straightforward instruction to students so they learn and grow as much as possible.
	Ilinca Slabu Ilincas has competed in speech and debate for two years with the LCC Fighting Smelt Speech and Debate Team. Her notable awards include the Orv Iverson award for the top novice competitor in the conference, the Pi Kappa Delta JV IPDA National Champion award, and many other awards in limited prep and platform speaking. Since then, she has been coaching and judging speech and debate at various tournaments. Ilinca has experience in tutoring and coaching. She tutored various subjects at the Lower Columbia College Tutoring Center. She also has experience coaching speech and debate at a college level. She worked with high school students to coach Quiz Bowl. Ilinca has worked with organizational, administrative, and outreach tasks within her role at the Associated Students of Lower Columbia College. She has experience doing outreach tasks with prospective students. She also worked in an administrative role during her time collaborating with WA state representatives to pass legislation. Ilinca brings all this expertise to the excellent teaching and feedback she provides to Climb students.
	Isa Magnuson Tamayo Isa serves as our afterschool program greeter welcoming students to the program and helping them get to the right room for instruction. Isa has worked directing a lab preschool for three years and has tutored elementary school aged children in Spanish and math. Isa is ready to help you in our programs.
	Jennifer Stephens Jennifer L. Stephens, MA, JD, is an attorney and university instructor. She teaches Politics & Philosophy courses at the University of Idaho. She's competed in Lincoln Douglas debate, Parliamentary debate, and other competitive alternative dispute resolution and trial advocacy events. Fall of 2017 she was also an applicant for the Seattle City Council, where she enjoyed a week-long foray into local politics. Her passion for law is matched by her dedication to teaching speech, debate, and civic education to students of all ages. Jennifer will help you become a better speaker and debater in our program.
	Lauren Fletcher Lauren was Mock Trial Club President in high school, which involved coaching high school kids in public speaking and debate through practice and competition. She won the award in Santa Cruz County in 2019 for best Pre-Trial Defense Attorney. She also participated in Model UN as a delegate, which involved presenting persuasive speeches in conferences. Her favorite part of coaching debate is connecting with all the wonderful students in the program! Lauren has taught in our program to great success and she is ready to help you become a better speaker and debater.
	Lisa Weber Lisa has been an award-winning head speech and debate coach for the last 10 years. With her project management skills, Lisa has been successful in building debate programs at local schools. She has coached every event offered in high school except Policy and Parli. She coached students to State and national tournaments for the last 10 years winning many awards. Her background also includes running a Middle school program. Lisa majored in Speech at Northwestern University. She has taught with the Climb program and with speech units to private clubs over the past six years. She is ready to bring her incredibly successful coaching advice to your student.
	Lyd Haindfield Lyd Haindfield has been with Climb for three years, as an instructor for the summer camps. They were debate captain in high school, where they taught new debaters. In college they were student director, and continued to help teach fellow debaters. In terms of experience, Lyd debated for 7 years, throughout both high school and college, competing in over 70 tournaments. In high school they competed in public forum, along with multiple speech events. Their sophomore year of high school they qualified and competed at National and the TOC (Tournament of Champions). They earned the National Forensic League Degree of Premier Distinction, earned over 23 awards, was ranked in the top 5 debaters in Washington state Fall 2019, and lettered in debate at Mount Si High School. In college Lyd competed in both cross examination debate and CARD (formerly known as PNW debate) at Western Washington University. in Cross Examination debate they qualified and competed at the NDT their first two years of college, and competed at CEDA nationals all three years, making it to Doubles. In CARD debate they earned many awards including going undefeated at Big Tent Tournament in 2022 and winning several others. Lyd has now graduated colleges with their Bachelors in Political Science, and is now at Seattle University School of Law, working towards their law degree. Lyd has always strived for inclusivity, working close with organizations like Beyond Resolved and the Women’s Debate Institute to help fulfill that. They have a passion to make debate safe and accessible, so that it can be fun and educational for all who participate, which they bring to their work at Climb the Mountain.
	Maia Hepburn Maia participated in high school LD for all four years at Walt Whitman High School, typically consisting of 6 local tournaments in a school year and 4 or 5 national circuit tournaments. During her senior year, she focused more on teaching LD novices, but she still went to NSDA nationals. At Gonzaga University, she joined their BP team sophomore year and made it to octofinals at Seattle University's tournament in 2018. After studying abroad she won several tournaments in New/PNW style debate in her senior year of 2021. She took honors courses in communication and public speaking along with reasoning courses in multiple fields. She's worked for educational institutions on building better resources for teaching, mainly Uniformed Services University's Center for Global Health Engagement. Currently, she's working to teach people in a more informal setting as a barista trainer at Starbucks. She's helped in organizing events hosted by the Gonzaga Honors Council including informal lectures and community-building activities. She also volunteered after her senior year of high school to teach and help run a summer camp at the Sherman Adams Memorial School in Monrovia, Liberia. Maia is ready to bring her incredibly knowledgeable and skilled insights to teaching your speaker and debater to be the best they can.
	Maya Garzelli Maya has debated with the Western Washington University Debate Union since Fall 2020 in the recently-named CARD format (previously known as PNW Debate). They have competed in many tournaments, placing first once and tying for first several other times (in rounds without a final showcase), and have won first-place awards for excellence in evidence and excellence in community-building. They taught lessons and workshops about various social issues as a part of a volunteer/youth leadership program called Global Visionaries for three years. They also worked in childcare for many years. They were involved in fundraising and outreach activities for Global Visionaries such as giving classroom presentations, participating in phone banks, and volunteering and speaking at the annual fundraising gala. Maya is ready to bring their experience and talent in speaking and debating to help you achieve your goals as a speaker and debater.
	Michael Bartanen Michael is the author of numerous books on directing forensics, LD debate, value debate, and history of forensics in America. Michael has 40 years experience teaching communication and in coaching forensics. Michael served as an academic administrator including at the Chair, Dean and Provost levels. Michael was president of CEDA national debate organization and held many offices in Pi Kappa Delta, a national speech and debate organization. Michael is actively involved in fundraising for Western Washington Univ and Pacific Lutheran Univ. Michael serves as backup in case of instructor illness or inability to teach. When Michael teaches, it provides an opportunity for the incredible background and experience in speech and debate to be carried on to your speaker and debater.
	Miriam Hardyway Miriam is a highly prized instructor with Climb having worked with us for a year and a half. Miriam tutored high school students and participated in a public speaking competition for a medical conference. She was involved in the HOSA medical club, oversaw 40+ members as the Secretary. She took care of fundraisers, blood drives, medical and non-medical conferences while working with a team of other officers. She is caring and very clear instructor providing outstanding instruction to young debaters, especially elementary debaters. She also serves as greeter during our summer camp. Miriam is ready to help you succeed.
	Nico Roshau Nico is one of our mostly highly sought out instructors in our program. She has worked with Climb for six years including doing clinics, camps, and our afterschool program—teaching in all facets of our programming. Nico did three years of policy debate in high school. As a team, their sophomore year they were in the top 20 teams at the Stanford Invitational. They also qualified for state all three years. Nico has also won many speaker awards in debate. Nico has done three years of interp, and one of oratory. She broke at state in two interp events (DI and DUO) as well as oratory and also qualified for nationals in OO. She has also gone to NIETOC for DI, DUO and OO, and was top 50 in DUO in 2017 at NIETOC. Nico was also voted by her class as most valuable speaker for speech and debate in 2017.
	Noor Sandhu Noor is a Senior getting her Bachelor's in Law, Economics, & Public Policy at UW Bothell, she is also part of the UWB Speech and Debate Club. She has a passion for forensics and has taught speaking events and debates with Climb over the past year. She is renowned for her high-quality instruction and helpfulness. Throughout her instruction, she emphasizes speaking with confidence and coherence. She has taken part in numerous Seattle U Tournaments for students in middle and elementary schools as a judge. Noor wants every group of students she works with to have a powerful voice, thus she personalized her teaching style to younger students in order to develop the next generation's strong and persuasive speakers. Her kids have left classes receiving high scores for both speech & debate and overall portraying their eloquent skills in the real world and academically.
	Parker Davidson Parker has worked with Climb the Mountain since 2019. They debated in British Parliamentary and IPDA as a student at Seattle University, receiving multiple awards in both formats from the US and Canada. They have additionally served as an assistant coach at Seattle University since 2020 and have provided workshops and guest instruction at several other universities across the continent. Parker also is an advisor with The Debating International and the Asia Debating Group. They have served as a tabmaster or chief adjudicator for over 20 tournaments ranging from elementary to college in age range. They received their BA in Political Science from Seattle University in 2020. Coaching the college students and working full-time as a fundraising manager for a children’s museum make Parker a busy person, but you’ll still see them working as a tabulator and organizer for our tournaments, having been called “the human version of a Personal Information Management system” by Jim himself.
	Peter Litster Pete has worked with Climb for the past four years and has taught previously at the Sun Country Forensics Institute in Utah. As a competitor, Pete enjoyed considerable success as both an individual speaker and debater, earning four industrial-sized totes worth of trophies in multiple events as a student, spanning local, regional, state, national, NFL division and NFL nationals- where he double qualified in both team policy cross-examination debate and extemporaneous speaking (international topics). Pete’s success in high school resulted in a scholarship to attend the 1992 National Forensics Institute at American University in Washington DC, and the 1993 Maurice Warshaw Political Science Scholarship (full ride) at the University of Utah, where he emphasized international relations and security, media studies, and graphic arts. From this he went on to serve over his lifetime in several leadership capacities as an advocate and organizer for peace, ecological and social justice, and community arts. Pete strives to impart the same skills and passion for credible knowledge and public speaking that has contributed to the best of his life by providing detailed instruction, quality feedback, and custom study materials for Climb students!
	Ronna Liggett Ronna brings a wealth of experience to our program. She has done world schools debate, Asian style bp, comfortable with second language students. Ronna's has been involved in teaching, coaching and adjudicating debate for the past 30 years. As a faculty member in a university setting, she taught classroom debate, directed the forensic program, coached, judged and traveled with her team to forensics competitions. Additionally, she has taught and judged internationally in 16 countries at debate camps and competitions. She has experience in a variety of debate formats as well as in coaching and judging individual events. As Director of Forensics at the University of Nevada, Reno, she coached students in all individual events as well as debate. Likewise, my program welcomed both interests in competitors. Several students won awards in a variety of Individual Events (too numerous to remember) in regional competition. Some select students earned points to attend some national competitions. Ronna brings her caring wealth of experience to you so can learn with support and growth in our program.
	Samira Jamaale Samira has done collegiate debate participating in the Climb Team IPDA tournament and has judged at the May 21st debate tournament hosted at Seattle U: judged elementary school students. She was an officer of the student government at Shoreline Community College. During her term, she sat on administrative committees such as the budget committee (managed the entire school's budget) and the presidential search committee (which led a nation-wide search of the next president of the college). She was the president of her Collegiate DECA charter from 2021-22, advanced to state with second place and nationals and won a medal from the event. From these experiences, she has developed her public speaking and presentation skills. Samira is ready to teach you to grow as a speaker and debater.
	Sean Haggerty Sean helped begin our Climb program at Jing Mei school in Bellevue helping elementary school debaters engage in debate for the first time. While working towards earning a black belt, Sam aided the instructors in teaching kids' discipline, respect, and self-control. Sean completed a public speaking class in college that has greatly influenced his communication skills. He also has a lot of babysitting experience ranging from taking care of 8- to 12-year-olds. Sean is also an IRS certified tax assistant providing intake and currently volunteering as a front desk greet man at a hope link establishment helping people with their tax returns. In the past Sean has volunteered with multiple groups like the "Feed My Starving Children" where he would prepare dry meals that were sent to developing countries around the world. And a few months ago, he volunteered at Foundation Fighting Blindness, where I helped kids write their names and other words in braille. Sean is ready to bring teaching and speaking experience along with debate instructional skills to help you achieve your goals.
	Sloane Goldberg Sloane participated in debate as a middle schooler, winning one tournament and multiple speaker awards. Then, she coached debate for four years, acting as a student coach for 2 years, then transitioning into the head coach for the University Prep debate team for another 2 years. During her time as the lead debate coach, she coached multiple students at University Prep who received speaker awards. She has coached 6 tournaments as head coach; of those, the majority of students have won speaker awards. Her role as head coach involves significant teaching responsibilities. This included organizing and running an online camp for debate in the summer of 2020. For the camp she developed lesson plans, taught students who had no debate experience, and ran successful activities and debate related games. She has administrative experience with strategic planning for debate. Sloane brings all of her skills and actual middle school debating experience to the students to do it very effectively.
	Tyler Zabolio Tyler Zabolio has been in the world of competitive debate for over seven years. In high school, he competed at both the state and national levels in impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking, and Public Forum debate. The NSDA ranked him a top 50 Impromptu speaker as well as a top 50 ranked Public Forum debater in Washington State his junior and senior years. Tyler is now on the policy debate team at Gonzaga University and gets to travel all around the country debating! He is in his Junior year at GU, majoring in Business Administration with a focus in Public Law and Policy. Tyler is also working towards minors in both Political Science and Leadership. He has three years of debate coaching experience and loves to work with kids. In his lessons, students will work on critically engaging with arguments to reach the deepest levels of understanding.
	Zach Maghirang Zach Maghirang has worked with Climb for seven+ years and has been instrumental in its growth. Zach led an outreach effort to Puget Sound schools, taught students in newly started programs, and has led tabulation management at tournaments. Zach competed in high school in Policy debate and Dual-Interpretation. He debated on the University of Washington policy debate team. While debating in high school, Zach consistently placed in the top four in state. In college, he placed second at the JV Western Nationals tournament and was a octafinalist at the NJDDT in his first year of debate. He performed a dual-interp my senior year of high school which later placed me at 4th in the Washington State IE tournament. Zach has a full time job as a benefits analyst now but he helps with tournament tabulation at Seattle University tournaments. Zach provides excellent tabulation and support for Jim’s management of tournaments.