Meredith Deaton coached 3 national champions in United States extemp in a 4-year period, a national record. She has also coached 9 state champions in International Extemp, US Extemp, and Lincoln-Douglas debate, 3 invitees to the Montogomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, and multiple finalists at tournaments such as Harvard, UT Austin, Stanford, and St. Mark’s. In 2014, Northwestern University’s Extemp Tournament of Champions named her Coach of the Year. After studying political science at New York University, she developed first-hand knowledge of global affairs by traveling to over 40 countries, including a 2015 Fund for Teachers fellowship to research genocide recovery in Germany and Rwanda, and an independent exploration of Central Asian countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. After coaching at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa for ten years, she now coaches privately while teaching AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Human Geography at the Science and Engineering Magnet in Dallas, TX.
Type: Senior
Megan Butt
Megan Butt is currently in her eighth year of teaching, and first year directing the speech and debate program at Providence High School. In her five years of coaching, Megan has helped coach over 70 state and district finalists, dozens of national qualifiers, and several state champions. She has also coached students to late out-rounds at NSDA Nationals, including assistant coaching both Carolina West district World Schools Debate teams to 5th and 8th place in 2017. Outside of forensics, Megan is an experienced classroom instructor who currently teaches English and AP Seminar, an advanced critical thinking and research writing course. When she’s not coaching debate, Megan enjoys her second-favorite pastime: arguing with her husband, Bilal Butt. Megan has watched her best students experience incredible growth at ISD over the years, and is excited to finally join the ISD family as a faculty member this summer!
Bilal Butt
Bilal Butt is the Director of Speech and Debate at Charlotte Latin School. Bilal is a one-diamond NSDA coach who was the North Carolina coach of the year in 2019. He has served on the Tarheel Forensic League state committee, and the NSDA Public Forum Debate Topic Wording Committee. Over his time in the activity, his students have earned a long list of impressive results. His teams closed out Yale (1st and 2nd place), championed the George Mason Invitational, reached finals of Wake Forest, Durham, Harvard, Blake, and NCFL Grand Nationals, reached semifinals of the New York City, Emory, Sunvite, and Glenbrooks invitational tournaments. They also reached quarterfinals at the Tournament of Champions and top 8 at the NSDA National tournament in both Public Forum Debate and World Schools Debate.