Al Zaidi is a rising freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a graduate of Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy in Florida.
Across three seasons in Extemp, Al won national tournaments including Yale, Bronx, Blue Key, and the Sunvitational — alongside FFL Florida State championships in both International Extemp and United States Extemp. Al was also a semifinalist in IX at NSDA Nationals, the TOC, and Harvard; a finalist at Glenbrooks, Emory, and the Coolidge Cup; and received two invitations to the Montgomery Bell Academy Round Robin.
Alongside competing, Al coaches in his local community. In 2023, he founded a debate initiative that reaches 150+ students in Title I schools. He also directs local tournaments, organizing the region’s first competition for 60+ students from seven high schools. Al is an NSDA Academic All-American, a recipient of the NSDA Speaking & Service Award, and a recipient of the NSDA All-State Award. A published novelist and poet, Al enjoys employing language for creative expression and has invented an antibiotic for nosocomial infection. He is a published researcher and a Borlaug Scholar. A former ISD camper, Al is excited to return to ISD as an instructor this summer!
Eva is currently a senior at The Blake School and has debated there for four years. Eva has amassed 15 bids to the Tournament of Champions and won the UK Season Opener, Apple Valley, the Blake Round Robin (2x), the Ivy Street Round Robin, the Barkley Forum, and Minnesota State (2x). She has broken at the TOC two years in a row, receiving 5th speaker her sophomore year. She also loves sailing, playing with her dog, and reading. Eva is thrilled to be a part of ISD!
Eddy Cavazos holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Texas A&M University – Kingsville and an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory. In addition, Cavazos is a 200 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher and Social Emotional Learning Facilitator via Breathe4Change. Cavazos serves as Head Theatre Director, Speech Coach, and UIL Academic Coordinator at Harlingen High School South and Program Director for Musical Theatre at the Harlingen Performing Arts Conservatory, located in South Texas. Cavazos has coached numerous finalists and champions at Yale, Glenbrooks, and Harvard, Texas Forensic Association State Champions, University Interscholastic League State Champions, NIETOC Champions, and NSDA National Champions in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Prose, and Storytelling. Cavazos received NSDA Coach of the Year Awards for the Gulf Coast District in 2021 and 2023.
Cavazos’ coaching philosophy is rooted in artistry and authenticity while providing his student collaborators with the necessary tools to explore the power of both literature and their point of view. He is thrilled to join the ISD team in 2025 as a Senior Instructor in Interpretation of Literature and cannot wait to support you in your journey and watch you thrive!
Anthony is the owner of Elite College Hacker, a debate-oriented college admissions company for applicants to the US’s top undergrad, Ph.D., STEM Masters, MBA, and med schools. He also serves as an Assistant LD Debate coach for Isidore Newman High school. Most recently, Anthony coached the #2 speaker (and 9th place) at NSDA Nationals in LD. His students, across the previous 20+ years, have won LD championships at NCFL and TOC, multiple Round 12+ finishes and speaker awards at NSDA, and in the past decade, multiple state championships (North Carolina, Louisiana, Oregon).Anthony is also a former Vice President and Executive at PIMCO, the largest U.S. fixed income fund, where he served as the Head of Learning and Program Management. Anthony is also an alumnus of Stanford (undergrad), Yale (Ph.D)., and has additional credentials as an MBA and certified project manager (PMP).
Ethan is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Philosophy. He also served as the director of Lincoln Douglas debate for the Florida Blue Key Tournament. His students have won tournaments such as Bronx, Valley, the Harvard Round Robin, Stanford, the Tournament of Champions, and NSDA Nationals. Ethan’s specialties include theory debate, speech execution/strategy, and argument construction. In his free time, Ethan greatly enjoys football and mixed martial arts – and if you ever have trouble finding him, it would be helpful to start your search at the nearest sushi bar.
Esther competed in high school Speech and Debate for four years, competing in several categories such as Informative Speaking, Original Oratory, and Program Oral Interpretation. As a member of the American Heritage Speech team she championed various tournaments ranging from Florida Varsity State, The Barkley Forum at Emory University, and Harvard University’s International Tournament. Most notably, she is a three time, back-to-back-to-back NSDA National Champion in Original Oratory. Esther is so excited to give back to a community that has given her so much!
Chase Williams is the 6-12 Director of Speech and Debate at Taipei American School and founder of The Institute for Speech and Debate. In his 15+ years of coaching, Chase has coached multiple NSDA National Champions and Top-6 finishers across multiple events, including most recently the 2025 NSDA National Champions in Policy Debate. Chase’s team was the first international team in the 100 year history of the NSDA to win a national championship.
Chase’s students have advanced as far as Semifinals in PF at the TOC, and have championed or been in the final round at Yale, Minneapple, The Glenbrooks, Blake, The Sunvitational, Stanford, and Emory. In his 8 years as the Director of Speech and Debate at TAS, Chase has built a program that routinely achieves high levels of success, including 5 NSDA school awards in the last 5 years.
Before transitioning to education and coaching full-time, Chase was a political operative at the local, state, and federal campaign level. He has remained involved in the political arena as a volunteer, fundraiser, and activist.
To Chase, ISD is so much more than a summer camp, it is his extended family and he can’t wait to welcome more students into that family this summer!
Maggie Woodward coaches Original Oratory and Informative Speaking at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, New York, and has been involved in forensics as a competitor & a coach for 15 years. As a student, she was the Tennessee State Champion in Original Oratory, and a national finalist in 2008. During college, she competed for Western Kentucky University Forensics. She has taught or directed Oratory at multiple summer institutes, including WKU’s Summer Forensics Institute and the Florida Forensics Institute. Students she has coached have been finalists or champions at Wake Forest, Yale, Harvard, Emory, Bronx Science, TOC, and NSDA. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Mississippi and is pursuing her PhD at the University of Southern California. She is very excited to work with the students in ISD’s new Original Oratory program this summer!
Jay Rye first became involved with Speech & Debate as a high school competitor in 1985, and has served as the Director of Speech & Debate at The Montgomery Academy in Montgomery, Alabama, since 1991. As a competitor for and graduate of the University of Alabama, Jay was the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award from Delta Sigma RhoTau Kappa Alpha, the collegiate honor society for speech education. As a five-diamond coach, he served as the District Chair of the Deep South District from 1999 – 2017 having received the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards for District Chair Service as well as being named District Chair of the Year in 2009. In 2007 he was elected a Key Coach of the Barkley Forum at Emory University in Georgia and in 2009 was the recipient of the Bronx Achievement Award by the Bronx High School of Science in New York. In 2013, Jay was the recipient of the Brother Polowy Coaching Award by Holy Cross in Louisiana and in 2014 was named the Jenny Cook Mentorship Award by the University School in Florida.
Jay has coached 142 individual state champions along with 134 National Speech & Debate Association qualifiers in all events, including the 2006 National Champion in Dramatic Interpretation. Jay served as the Chair of the Host Committee for the National Tournament of the National Speech & Debate Association in 2009, 2013, and 2017. He is an inducted member in the Alabama Speech & Debate Coaches Hall of Fame and the National Speech & Debate Coaches Hall of Fame. In 2014, Jay was elected to the Board of Directors for the NSDA and served in that capacity until his term concluded in June, 2018.
