Staff

Jared Zuckerman, Director.

Former Director at Blue Valley Southwest.  He's a current teacher at Glenbrook North and the Assistant Director of Debate for Glenbrook South, IL. He's been the camp director since establishing the summer program. His team was the first in KS history to win the NSDA national championship. They also won the 2017 and 2018 NCFL national championships, were the TOC finalists, and received the Ungar Cup as the nation’s top team. As a coach, he received the 2018 National Debate Coaches Association Coach of the Year and NSDA Ted Belch Coach of the Year. He has coached 12 state championships in Kansas/Illinois and has coached top speakers at both the NSDA and TOC. 

Jaleon Brown, Middle School Debate/Speech

Jaleon is going into her senior year at Western Kentucky University.  She is majoring in Communications and Political Science and plans to attend Law School in the fall of 2025.  She is a member of the WKU Competitive Speech Team where she has won multiple tournaments including the Phi Kappa Delta National Tournament and State 2023 in Persuasive Speaking. She has also finaled at the National Forensics Association, International Forensics Association, and the Oats Asynchronous National Tournaments.   In her senior year of high school, she was a finalist for the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Oral Interp of Literature and a NIETOC semifinalist.

Jamelle Brown, High School Speech / Middle School Debate

Jamelle Brown has over 25 years of experience coaching and teaching Competitive Speech and Debate.  She was also a high school competitor.  At Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, she coached finalists in DUO, OI, ODEC, DI, and Public Speaking at the NCFL Nationals. Additionally, she has coached semifinalists in USX, Storytelling, Prose and Poetry, and other late IE round NSDA participants. Last summer, she had a Prose NSDA finalist. She has won the NFHS National Speech & Debate Coach of the Year Award, National Milken Educator Award, and KS Speech and Debate Hall of Fame.  In the fall of 2024, she began teaching and coaching Competitive Speech at Pembroke in KCMO and will serve on the Board of Directors for the National Speech and Debate Association.

Parker Hopkins, High School Debate

Parker Hopkins has been coaching Speech & Debate since 2015, with ten seasons in high school and five in college coaching. He competed at Lawrence Free State High School, Johnson County Community College, and Missouri State University. Parker was honored as the 2021 Heart of America Assistant Coach of the Year and has coached multiple teams to the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions. His coaching has led to numerous qualifications and advancements at NSDA, NCFL, TOC, and NDT tournaments, achieving national qualifications every season. Notably, he also coached the 4th place finisher in Policy Debate at NSDA in 2022, and the Extemp Debate Champion in 2023. For the past two seasons, his teams have been recipients of debate schools of excellence awards at NSDA nationals.  Parker has also been recognized with the NSDA Distinguished Service Gold Key and as an NSDA 1 Diamond Coach. In addition to his current roles, Parker has experience as an adjunct speech instructor at KCKCC and has led summer debate labs at the Missouri State Debate Institute.

Parker is currently the Director of Debate & Forensics at Lawrence Free State High School, and an Assistant Coach for Missouri State University. 

Alex McVey, Co-host

He’s an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and the Director of Debate at Kansas State University, where he coaches Policy Debate and British Parliamentary Debate. As an undergraduate at Baylor University, Alex was a four-time NDT qualifier, a CEDA octafinalist, and NDT double octafinalist.

Kristen StoutHart, High School Debate

Kristen StoutHart is a 2-diamond coach with the NSDA and current educator of middle school, high school, and college aged students. Kristen competed at Williams High School, Plano East High School, and Missouri State University, primarily in Policy Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. As a coach, she has worked with students of all ages and skills levels in a variety of educational settings. Some student success highlights from her coaching include 2nd place at NSDA nationals in Extemporaneous Debate, Top Performing Community College at NFA Nationals, multiple student of the year awards, and over 100 state and national qualifications. She has been awarded the Assistant Coach of the Year Award in the Ozark NSDA district, the Newcomer Award by Missouri State University, and the Distinguished Service Gold Key Award by the NSDA. Kristen is a full-time Instructor of Communication at Missouri State University, where she also received her undergraduate (2011-Socio-Political Communication) and graduate (2012-Communication) degrees. She primarily teaches classes in argumentation, workplace communication, and leadership in addition to her work with the college debate team. Her proudest academic accomplishments include her Top Panel and Top Paper awards at the Central States Communication conference and the co-authoring of her textbook, Understanding Argument in a Post-Truth World. 

Jaggard Lee Williams, Middle School Speech

Jaggard Williams is a diamond coach and the director of Speech and Debate at William Chrisman High School. He has now been coaching speech and debate for 5 years, having spent time at the middle school, high school, and collegiate level with Pioneer Ridge Middle School, Truman High School, The Pembroke Hill School, and Simpson College. During his time, he has helped coach several state and national finalists in debate, speech, and interp. As a competitor, he found great success, especially in college, where he earned upwards of 5 state championships.