Alex debated for four years at Durham Academy, winning multiple national championships, including the Tournament of Champions (Gold) and NCFL Grand Nationals, ranking #1 in PF nationally for the 2022-2023 season (DD Rankings). As a junior, they were the Yale Invitational co-champion, the PF state champion, and a three-time qualifier to the TOC and NSDA tournaments. Outside of debate, Alex likes photography, soccer, and cooking, and is super excited to work with students at ISD!
Type: Junior
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!
Sienna Vaughn
Sienna is a senior at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. She started Public Forum in 7th grade, qualifying for TOC and NSDA Nationals in her freshman, sophomore, and junior year. She has accumulated 23 career bids to the Tournament of Champions and has been ranked first nationally by the NSDA in Public Forum points and the NDCA, winning the Tim Averill Cup for season-long excellence in her junior year. She and her partner went 7-0 in Gold TOC prelims, got 3rd place at NSDA nationals, were California State Champions, and have reached late elimination rounds at many tournaments such as Glenbrooks, Ivy Street Round Robin, Yale, Berkeley, James Logan, UK, and more. She is the overall captain of her school’s 95-person speech and debate team and has spent years teaching Public Forum at over five debate programs. She can’t wait for this summer at ISD!
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!
Tess Segal
Tess has been doing speech & debate for 5 years, with national titles including two-time Original Oratory champion at Glenbrooks, making the NSDA stage in Informative Speaking, and appearing in final rounds of Oratory, Info, and POI and both the state and national levels. She’s a climate communication nerd whose best experience in high school was coaching novices as team captain, and she’s thrilled to extend that experience at ISD.
Jared Shapiro
Jared is currently studying at The Ohio State University and is an alumnus of Hawken School in Cleveland, OH. At Hawken, Jared served as the Interpretation Captain as well as the Vice President of Speech his senior year. Jared was ranked as high as 1st in the country in both HI and POI, and competed since 7th grade. Jared has reached late elimination rounds at many national tournaments including 2nd at Yale, 6th at Glenbrooks, 5th at GMU Patriot Games, 2nd at the Barkley Forum, Semifinals at the UK TOC, Top-60 at NSDA Nationals, and was a four time NSDA national qualifier. In addition, he championed the Sunvitational, the Stanford Invitational, the New York City Invitational, and was the 2019 OSDA State Champion in POI. Outside of speech, Jared can be caught dancing in public, talking in different voices at all the wrong times, and trying to put a smile on people’s faces. Jared is excited to continue giving back to the activity that gave him so much, and he can’t wait to welcome more Interpers into the ISD family in 2020!