SunHee SImon is the Director of World Schools Debate at VBI. SunHee graduated from Stanford University in 2019 (BA in African American History; MA in Sociology). Her debate accolades are many, ranging from being one of the first students to qualify to the Tournament of Champions in LD and Policy debate to being on Team USA (World Schools Debate) to semifinaling her freshman year of college at the CEDA Tournament in 2016. She has dedicated the past 8 years of her young career to coaching fantastic debaters who have reached accolades even more impressive than her own. This includes, but is not limited to, placing 17th in WSD at nationals, having several of her students on Team Texas as well as championing the Cal Invitational and TFA State in World Schools. She also runs the World of Words Institute, a program dedicated to creating equitable access to World Schools resources for students of all backgrounds. She is based at Coppell High School where she continues to coach, drill, laugh, and grow with her students every day.

Chris Theis is Executive Director of Victory Briefs. He currently coaches for The Marlborough School (CA). He has previously coached students from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (CA), Lexington High School (MA), Apple Valley High School (MN), Trinity Preparatory School (FL), Winston Churchill (TX). He currently sits on the Tournament of Champions (TOC) Lincoln-Douglas Committee, and the National Speech Association Lincoln-Douglas Committee. He was previously a member of the the National Debate Coaches Association’s Executive Committee.

As a coach, his students have consistently reached elimination rounds at the Tournament of Champions, and have placed in the top 6 of the NSDA National Tournament. His students have won nearly every major invitational tournament (some multiple times) including: Harvard, Berkeley, Greenhill, St. Mark’s, the Minneapple, Emory, Stanford, CPS, Lexington, Loyola, Damus, Golden Desert, Alta, the Greenhill Round Robin, and others.

As a competitor, he was one of only three juniors to ever win the Tournament of Champions and is the only person to win the tournament twice. He was the champion of Blake, Emory, the Iowa Round Robin twice, the Greenhill Round Robin twice, and St. Marks twice. Chris was also a semi finalist at Greenhill and the Glenbrooks, and a finalist at Berkeley. Chris was a four year qualifier to the NSDA National Tournament in Lincoln-Douglas, U.S. Extemp Speaking, and Congressional Debate.

Andy Stubbs is the Curriculum Director of VBI and a curriculum specialist for the Houston Urban Debate League. He works with the Houston chapter of Rikers Debate Project teaching debate to students held in Harris County Jail.

Devane is a former debater for Rutgers-Newark and Newark Science. With Rutgers Newark, Devane won the 2017 CEDA National Championship and the 2017 NDT. He also was the top Speaker of the 2017 NDT. Devane has coached on the college and high school level and has coached multiple qualifiers to the TOC, CEDA nationals, the NDT and debaters to late elimination rounds at national tournaments throughout the season. Devane has also taught top lab at a number of Policy and LD camps.

Nick Smith is the Director of Instructional Design & Curriculum at Victory Briefs. He studied Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. He was the Director of Debate at Hopkins for four years, a coach at St. Thomas Academy & The Visitation School, in addition to privately coaching several students. He now is the head coach at Apple Valley High School. His students have won multiple state championships and reached late elimination rounds at numerous national championships.

Anushree (Anu) has been involved in debate for five years at Coppell High School. In that time, they have notably championed TFA State, the California Invitational Berkeley Tournament, University of Houston Cougar Classic, and University of North Texas Tournament. Anu is a returning member of Team Texas where they captained their team at the Harvard College World Schools Invitational, finishing in quarterfinals as fifth speaker. In speech, they placed fourth at the Duke Invitational, was a national finalist at the Coolidge Cup, and has been a two time TEDx speaker. When not debating with some of the loveliest people ever or writing for their school’s paper, you can find Anu drinking copious amounts of boba or taking walks. Anu is extremely excited to meet everyone at VBI and help them find their voices!

Brett is an incoming junior at UT Austin in the College of Liberal Arts and has aspirations of becoming an attorney. He is currently a consultant for his former high school and has privately coached many debaters. Brett started his debate career as a sophomore in high school and is currently aiding in the development of a parliamentary debate team at his University. He has achieved success at a wide array of tournaments, reaching deep outrounds at NSDA Nationals, TFA State, Malaysian International World Schools Debating Championships (MIWSDC), Eurasian Schools Debating Championships (ESDC), and the Winston Churchill Classic. Beyond this success, Brett 4th spoke NSDA Nationals in 2022 and 2nd spoke MIWSDC. Outside of debate Brett enjoys watching movies, skiing, and rooting for his Texas Longhorns.

Emily Hu competed in World Schools Debate at Greenhill School for four years. She is individually ranked 3rd in Worlds by NSDA, and she is a 4x qualifier for TFA State and NSDA Nationals. She placed 3rd at TFA State, was a two-time octafinalist at NSDA Nationals, and reached finals at UT. Locally, she has reached elimination rounds at many tournaments – quarterfinaling Greenhill and Harvard Westlake and championing Grapevine, Jesuit, and Coppell twice. She's excited to work at VBI this summer!

Natalie has been engaged in speech and debate for ten years, specifically World Schools Debate for six years. She's competed at NSDA Nationals for the last seven years, placing in the top 10 of teams the last two years. Natalie's currently ranked number 1 nationally for Worlds. Natalie's taught debate in two different institutions, DUDA and Greenhill Summer on the Hill, over the course of four years. She'll be going to the University of Chicago as a part of the class of 2028. Natalie is also super excited to help instruct at VBI this summer!

Nicholas Aranda is currently an instructor and debate coach at Colorado Academy in Denver, where he teaches Honors courses on US history, military history, security studies, and foreign policy. He has extensive experience as a debate coach, including his role as a member of the Greenhill coaching staff, coaching the 2022 Texas State Champions in World Schools Debate, 2022 NDCA WSD National Champions, and the 2023 NSDA national semi-finalists. In 2021, Aranda was recognized with the Volunteer of the Year award by the Denver Urban Debate League. Similarly, Aranda has been a presenter and official at numerous debate conferences and has also taught at debate initiatives around the world, including workshops and seminars at An-Najah National Palestinian University, the Stanford National Forensics Institute, Baylor University, Harvard University, & the Global Debate Symposium. Aranda holds dual undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Peace Studies from Regis University and an MA from the A.Q. Miller School of Media, Communication, & Journalism at Kansas State University. Aranda has written works and presented at National and International academic conferences on topics related to Argumentation and Debate, Race, Gender, Conflict, Political Philosophy, & Affect Theory.

Ollie Braden is a freshman at Princeton University and is planning to major in philosophy. They were a member of Team USA in the 2022 academic year, and were incredibly honored to be part of the team that championed WSDC Vietnam in 2023. They are now a member of the Princeton Debate Panel, competing primarily in BP, which has been a lot of fun. They’re very excited to help out this year!

Sahith is an incoming sophomore at UT Austin in the McCombs school of Business and the College of Liberal Arts on a pre-law track. Sahith has coached at the World of Words Institute, consulted for Team Texas, and privately coached debaters across the country. Sahith’s been involved in debate since his freshman year of high school as a founding member of Coppell WSD and is a founder of the UT Austin Parliamentary Debate team. He’s achieved success at numerous tournaments reaching deep outrounds at the NSDA Tournament, The Blake Tournament, the Kandi King Round Robin, and The Croatian Invitational Winter Holiday Open (W.H.O.). Sahith championed TFA State, The UC Berkeley Invitational, and the Longhorn Classic. Sahith top spoke TFA state, 3rd spoke UT Austin, and 8th Spoke W.H.O. Outside of debate you can find him reading a new novel, watching a marvelous movie, and indulging in fantastic food – as well as over applying alliteration.