Reya Brahmbhatt is the senior captain of the congressional debate team at Ridge High School in New Jersey. By the end of her junior year, Reya placed 3rd at the NCFL nationals, reached the final round at the NSDA Senate nationals, and the semifinal rounds at the NSDA House nationals and the Tournament of Champions. She is a 3 time-qualifier to the TOC with 16+ bids. Additionally, she championed the Blake Round Robin and Villiger along with top-six finishes at Sunvite, Blake, and Pennsbury. She also competed in several semifinal and final rounds including Yale, Harvard, and GMU.
Reya enjoys congressional debate not only for its unique structure and argumentation but also because of the invaluable experiences it has given her. She’s very excited to be coaching at ISD this summer!
Brittany Stanchik is in her eighth year coaching Congressional Debate at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, AZ and is the new Director of Forensics at DV. Over the course of her coaching career, she has coached numerous TOC qualifiers, including 7 finalists, 18 NSDA National Finalists, and 7 National Semifinalists. In 2014 alone, Brittany coached five students to the Final Round of Congressional Debate at NSDA Nationals.
Brittany understands the need to preserve the tradition and educational aspects of Congressional Debate but has learned the progression that naturally comes with the event; she teaches students how to adapt in a quickly changing environment by having them focus equally on three pillars: argumentation, presentation, and refutation.
During her personal career, Ms. Stanchik was in the 2009 NSDA National Congress Final and the 2010 NSDA National Quarter finals for Public Forum Debate. She graduated from Arizona State University where she majored in Communication and Justice Studies. She can’t wait to spend another summer with her ISD Family!
