Jeffrey Miller is the Director of Speech & Debate at Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia where he has been since 2011. Jeffrey is a three-diamond NSDA coach who was the Georgia Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2023. He was also inducted into the Georgia Debate Hall of Fame in 2023. He has held leadership positions within the state organization as well as currently serving his 8th year on the NSDA Public Forum Wording Committee. Throughout his tenure at Marist, he’s qualified more than 100 students to the NSDA National Tournament and more than 40 students to the Tournament of Champions across all events. His students have reached late elimination rounds at virtually every national tournament in the country. He previously has worked as a Public Forum Debate Curriculum Director at Summit Debate, UGA, Emory University and Dartmouth College. Jeffrey is looking forward to his first summer with ISD!
Location: Florida
Bailey Koh
Bailey debated for four years at Southlake Carroll where he served as the Co-President of Speech and Debate. He has amassed a total of 9 bids to the Tournament of Champions in his career, qualifying three times and reaching the semifinals of Silver TOC his junior year. Additionally, he has attended NSDA Nationals twice, placing 6th as a sophomore and winning as a junior. Other notable achievements include, championing CSU, semifinaling UT, and getting speaker awards at TFA state, TOC, and Glenbrooks. Outside of debate, Bailey enjoys playing basketball and reading lightnovels.
Esther Oyetunji
Esther has done 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 has 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 two time, 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!
Michael Hansen
Michael debated for four years at Durham Academy, winning three national championships, including the Tournament of Champions (Gold), NCFL Grand Nationals, and NDCA National Novice Championship, and ranking #1 in PF nationally for the 2022-2023 season (DD Rankings). As a junior, he was the Yale Invitational co-champion, the King Round Robin top speaker & co-champion, the PF state champion, and a three-time qualifier to the TOC and NSDA tournaments. Beyond competition, Michael enjoys hanging out with friends and family and helping others achieve their goals in Speech & Debate!
Stella Wu
Stella debated for Taipei American School for four years and served as both the President of Speech & Debate as well as the Public Forum captain. On the circuit, Stella has been ranked consistently in the Top 10 PF teams, and as high as the top team in the country. She won 3rd place at the 2023 National Speech & Debate Tournament in PF, becoming the highest-ranking female debater that year. Stella also championed the Stanford Invitational, the UK Season Opener, and the Harvard Round Robin. She has also either championed or finaled her State qualifiers in the past three years and reached deep elimination rounds at Apple Valley, Sunvitational, and the TOC, amassing seven gold bids in her career. Outside of debate, Stella is a published poet and an online tutor for math and history, and she enjoys reading One Piece in her free time. She is very excited to join the ISD family and work with everyone this summer!
Cory Wurtenberger
Cory has been involved in speech for the past six years. In that time, he has championed Glenbrooks (2017, 2018, 2019), Sunvite (2019, 2020), Harvard, Emory, Bronx, GMU, and the Florida state tournament. He currently competes in college speech as a junior at Vanderbilt University where he is seeking a double major in political science and communications. He enjoys helping students find their own style in public address and emphasizes the importance of having a good time while doing so. Cory is an ISD alum and is excited to be working with ISD again this summer!
Bo Lint
Bo Lint is the Director of Speech & Debate at American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach Campus. In the past five years at American Heritage Palm Beach, Bo’s students have won tournaments like Yale, Nova Titan, Florida Blue Key, The Tradition, The Glenbrooks, George Mason, and the FFL Varsity State tournament, and have placed top-6 at tournaments like Bronx, Sunvitational, Emory, Stanford, Harvard, and the NSDA National Tournament. In addition, his students have earned over 100 bids to the Tournament of Champions (mostly in Congress), with 41 qualifying to NCFL Nationals and 39 qualifying to the NSDA National Tournament.
As a former competitor himself, Bo knows first-hand the transformational power of Speech & Debate and how much of an impact it can have on students’ lives. He has watched Congressional Debate change over the last 15 years and loves how Congress synthesizes the best aspects of other events together and is constantly evolving for the better. Bo is excited to join ISD this summer!
Jade Ismail
Jade Ismail competed for four years at Comeaux High School in Louisiana. She is the 2022 NSDA National Champion in Program of Oral Interp, the 2022 Emory Champion in Oratory, and the 2023 3rd Place finisher at Emory in Oratory. She has also reached final rounds in both Interp and Platform events at tournaments across the country. She is excited to be joining the ISD family and can’t wait to bring some southern HEAT to ISD: Carolina this summer! She can’t wait to see you there!
Veer Prakash
Veer is a rising freshman at New York University and has debated at Durham Academy for four years. He has been ranked as high as 2nd in the country in PF, amassing nine gold bids to the TOC across his career. In his senior year, he won Princeton, Duke, and Yale while reaching late elimination rounds at the Barkley Forum, Mineapple, Bronx, and Sunvite. He won the state championship as a junior and placed 14th at NSDA Nationals as a sophomore. When not debating, Veer enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing basketball, and listening to music. He’s looking forward to meeting everyone this summer!
McKinley Paltzik
McKinley Paltzik will graduate from Phoenix Country Day School in 2023, where she competed in Extemporaneous Speaking, Congressional Debate, Impromptu Speaking, and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She is the 2022 National Champion and President’s Bowl Winner in International Extemporaneous Speaking, the 2022 MBA Champion, and the 2022 TOC Champion in Extemporaneous Speaking. She is the first competitor to ever win the Yale Invitational 3 consecutive times, and has championed the NYC Invitational twice. She’s reached final rounds at both Harvard and Glenbrooks too. McKinley is also the Director of the Extemper’s Bible, an organization dedicated to making Extemp resources ubiquitously accessible. She is excited to be joining the ISD family and can’t wait to meet everyone this summer!