BDC Summer Camp Staff

 

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Katie Humphries

Katie Humphries joined Speech and Debate as the first-ever LD debater at her school, Liberty High School. Upon graduation, Katie continued to coach for her alma mater and compete in college at the University of Akron, where she received her B.S. in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Throughout her career, she participated in nearly a dozen events and accumulated many accolades on a state and national level, including winning state champion titles and coaching students to the same success. In 2019, she co-founded Triumph Debate to expand access to free learning resources in debate. Currently, Katie is the Public Forum Debate coach at the University of Kentucky and works to expand the UK Digital Speech and Debate Initiative (DSDI) through assisting with the Bluegrass Debate Coalition (BDC) and the Collegiate Public Forum Debate League (CPFL).
 

Senior Instructor

Bill Eddy

National champion debater and coach. Bill Eddy has been teaching and coaching public speaking and debate for more than twenty years. He has taught overseas in the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea. Most recently he spent the last 14 years teaching and coaching students in Irvine, CA at Magnet Learning Academy. He has presented and published papers on online debate and the need to expand public speaking and debate teaching to elementary students. In his current role as the Director of the Bluegrass Debate Coalition (sponsored by the University of Kentucky), he has been tasked with increasing critical thinking, confident speaking, and respectful engagement among all elementary, middle, and high school students in the state of Kentucky.
 

Junior Instructor

Lauren McBlain

Lauren is a rising junior at the University of Kentucky, where she studies political science. Lauren has been involved in debate for seven years, starting as a competitor in her local Urban Debate League in Chicago, IL where she won many titles. After graduation, Lauren began attending the University of Kentucky, where she competes in policy debate. As a team member for UK, she has advanced to elimination rounds at national tournaments, including, most recently, the CEDA National Tournament, where she made quarterfinals. In addition to competing, Lauren has coached at multiple UDL schools and has previously assisted with summer debate camps in both policy and public forum debate - including the 2021 BDC Summer Debate Camp. Lauren is excited to return to the BDC summer program and see some familiar faces!

 

Junior Instructor

Harry Sanjeevan

As an oncoming freshmen at the University of Kentucky, Harry will be participating in their intercollegiate debate program. Having done Public Forum from 7th to 9th grade, and Policy from 10th to 12th, Harry is familiar with many different approaches to debate. Throughout high school, Harry acquired a State championship, winning the Ohio Speech and Debate State Tournament. They qualified to Nationals for two years in a row, and on the National Circuit, made it to many out rounds and a bid round. Debate has been the number one activity that has helped Harry thoroughly learn about the world, allowing them to explore ideologies and argumentative viewpoints they would previously not have access to. Harry loves debate because it is one of the few activities that allow them to be able to communicate what they discover, the ideas they form from their research, and their own thoughts about an argument, to other like minded peers and educators.