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VBI
In our second "Faculty Focus" of the year we're taking a closer look at another one of our first year instructors, Michael O'Krent. This spring he will graduate from the Harvard-Westlake School, in Los Angeles, CA. Michael has attended VBI for a total of 15 weeks over the past four summers, making 2014 his fifth year at VBI.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
In our second "Faculty Focus" of the year we're taking a closer look at another one of our first year instructors, Michael O'Krent. This spring he will graduate from the Harvard-Westlake School, in Los Angeles, CA. Michael has attended VBI for a total of 15 weeks over the past four summers, making 2014 his fifth year at VBI.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
Catherine Tarsney is a senior at the University of Chicago, where she is majoring in Public Policy. She is currently a seasonal associate at 270 Strategies, and has worked as a Neighborhood Team Leader and Fall Fellow for Obama for America. She graduated from St. Louis Park HIgh School in 2010, where she qualified four times to the TOC, won it as a senior, and was the champion of multiple national circuit tournament. She is currently an assistant coach at the Hockaday School in Texas. She attended VBI as a student before her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and has taught at VBI as an instructor every summer since then.
Registration is now open for VBI's Chicago session, the Counterpoint Debate Institute.
Quotes about VBI from past students and a gallery of pictures from VBI 2013.
Registration is now open for VBI@UCLA. Also dates for VBI: DC & Chicago.
"By learning how to compare values in the context of a resolution, you're learning a procedure that you can apply in your own life."
Laith Shakir was the champion of the 2013 NFL Nationals tournament in Lincoln-Douglas debate. He graduated from Leland High School in San Jose, CA and will be attending American University in the fall.
"Philosophy is like debate with an ideally rational judge and no time limits."
LOS ANGELES, CA – Today we’d like to share another one of our amazing staff members for Session II with you! So far we’ve introduced you to David McNeil and Ryan Lawrence. Today, we’d like to introduce you to the final of our three talented curriculum directors for Session II: Last, but not least, Karlyn Gorski!
Karlyn is a rising third-year Public Policy and International Studies student at the University of Chicago. She debated for five years for Perkiomen Valley High School (aka Pokemon Valley), competing at the TOC three times, and becoming first debater from her school to qualify. Additionally, Karlyn competed at NCFL Nationals for four years, being crowned the 2009 NCFL Champion and the 2010 Runner-Up. She was also the champion of the University of Pennsylvania Round Robin, a finalist at Lexington, and a semifinalist at Blake, Harvard, Hendrick Hudson (Bump), and Princeton. Karlyn competed in many round robins including Greenhill, Bronx, Vassar, and Harvard, and was the top speaker at Princeton and NCFL Nationals. In addition, Karlyn is a founding member of University of Chicago’s Rising Phoenix Debate, which is an organization dedicated to connecting Chicago’s high school debate teams with experienced coaches and training.
We are excited to have this fantastic former debater join us at camp and help lead curriculum for Session II!
And now what you all read these articles for:
Nickname(s): The Little Ticket, KGFavorite non-debate, camp activity: Playing Team Fortress 2 “between lectures, during meals, after Socrates hours, and any time I have a few minutes to kill some spies” – Karlyn GorskiBest known for: “Popularizing the trend of wearing Uggs on the national circuit between rounds – a big moment in debate,” according to fellow staff member JP GooderhamFavorite tournament: Hockaday Round RobinFavorite tournament snack: Homemade trail mix at tournamentsFavorite movie(s): Thank You For Smoking, V for Vendetta, UpFavorite music performers/artists/composers: Gotye, Kanye, Matt & Kim, Sufjan Stevens, random mashupsHobbies: Executing circus acrobatics (Karlyn’s in the circus group at UChicago! Isn’t that awesome?), reading Reddit, dancing, cooking, and being the UChicago men’s rugby team’s superfan!Most Californian thing for a non-Californian: Karlyn surfs! She started because her brother surfed and she “wanted him to think [she] was cool!”
Karlyn will be studying abroad in India next year! Make sure to hang out with her while you can at camp, since you won’t be seeing her at tournaments for a little while!
LOS ANGELES, CA – We’ve compiled a pretty amazing staff for Session II of VBI and we’d love to share some of them with you! Last time, we introduced you to David McNeil. Today, we’d like to introduce you to the second of our three awesome curriculum directors for Session II: Ryan Lawrence!
Beginning as a highly successful high school and college debater, Ryan has been involved in the activity for over ten years. Spending the last three as the Director of Forensics at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA, Ryan worked with over two hundred students across multiple events. He has coached debaters to a myriad of accomplishments, including late out-rounds at the California State Tournament, NFL Nationals, and semifinals of the Tournament of Champions. He has extensive experience coaching debaters for both the local and national circuits and draws on experience in multiple debate events to take a well-rounded approach to both coaching and camp instruction. As a high school debater, Ryan won the Stanford Invitational and Round Robin, placed among the top 16 seeds at TOC, and qualified to both NFL Nationals and the TOC twice. In college, Ryan was on the number one ranked parli team in the nation!
We are overjoyed to have this talented coach back with us VBI for the eleventh summer! And now for the fun stuff:
Nickname(s): RL, RyGuy, Ryan Monster, Little-Man-In-a-Big-WorldBest known for: Taking people’s money in Poker; also, playing in the World Poker Tour which had a $10,000 buy in!Special talent(s): Dancing Bhangra with Lynbrook High School’s Indian administration members and spreading joy by singing Christmas songs in American Sign Language (He’s also fluent!)Number of years at VBI: 11 YEARS [2 years as a student, 9 as an instructor]Proudest moment at VBI: Winning the VBI StarCraft Championship after beating Christian Tarsney in the final round at Session II last yearFavorite quote: “That may be true, but it is also irrelevant.” - Unknown North Vietnamese ColonelFavorite movies: "Home videos of myself," Shawshank Redemption, 12 Angry Men and CasablancaMusic: Arcade Fire ("I was listening to the Arcade Fire when DMac was in diapers!") Death Cab for Cutie, and Classic Rock
If you see Ryan at camp, make sure to be friendly and introduce yourself. Maybe if you’re extra nice, he’ll even give you a few tips to improve your StarCraft or Poker game. Excited to see you soon, Ryan!
LOS ANGELES, CA – As a lead up to our next installment, we’d like to share some background on the remarkable staff we’ve assembled for Session II of this summer’s Victory Briefs Institute. Today, we’d like to introduce you to the first of our three awesome curriculum directors for Session II: David McNeil!
David reached the final rounds of the 2007 Greenhill Fall Classic, the 2008 Blake Edie Holiday Tournament, and the 2009 Minnesota State Championships, qualifying to both the Tournament of Champions and the National Forensic League Championship Tournament in both his junior and senior years. David was top speaker at the 2007 Iowa Caucus and the 2009 California Invitational (Berkeley), and was 9th speaker at the 2009 TOC. He coached LD for The Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2010 and 2011, qualifying two students to NFL Nationals in 2011. Additionally, David competes on the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) circuit and serves as team captain for Carleton College, where he studies Philosophy. In 2012, he and his partner reached the finals of the Minnesota State Championship, as well as placed in the top 32 in the country at the NPDA National Championship Tournament.
We are extremely excited to have this incredible former debater and Victory Briefs Institute alum on staff!
Now that we have all the formalities out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff:
Nickname(s): DMac, Ol' Davey
Best known for: His magical basketball skills and beating Ryan Lawrence at chess...while blindfoldedCelebrity look-a-like: Richard GereFavorite tournament: BerkeleyFavorite movie(s): The Lives of Others, Waiting for Guffman, InceptionFavorite music performers/ artists/ composers: Talking Heads, Arcade Fire, Blue Cranes, Franz Liszt, Glenn GouldHobbies: chess, jamming on tenor sax, Dance Dance Revolution, pretending to know/ justify why I'm studying philosophy in college, visiting humane societies and playing with the cats and dogs (sometimes the bunnies too but not as often)
If you see David around at Session II, make sure to stop and say hello! Can't wait to see you at camp, David!
VICTORY BRIEFS INSTITUTE 2012 on the campus of UCLAREGISTRATION FOR VBI 2012 IS NOW OPEN
We are now taking early registration for VBI 2012.
As we've done in the past, we are offering various discounts for early registrants. Please visit the website for information.
www.victorybriefsinstitute.com
DATES* SESSION 1June 24 - July 7, 2012
* FOCUS WEEKSWeek 3: July 7 - July 14, 2012Week 4: July 14 - July 21, 2012
* SESSION 2August 12 - August 25, 2012
* SEPT/OCT RESOLUTION PREP WEEKAugust 18 - August 25, 2012
We will continue to update the website with information about staff and curriculum.
LOCATIONWe will once again be staying on the beautiful campus of UCLA. During Session I and the Focus Weeks we plan on being at Sunset Village (the same as the last two years). Session II will continue to be at Hedrick Summit.
