Stanford National Forensic Institute

Eric is the Academic Director for speech and debate at the National Speech and Debate Association of China. In the last two years there, he has helped expand access to english language speech and debate to thousands of new students and hundreds of new schools in dozens of provinces and cities across the People's Republic of China. Eric has helped coach champions in original oratory and public forum debate at every major tournament in mainland China as well as international competitions in Taiwan, Japan, Korea and the United States. Before joining NSDA China, Eric was an assistant policy debate coach at the Stratford Academy and Westminster Schools of Georgia, who respectively won the Baker award for season long excellence and back to back Tournament of Champions. As a debater in college, Eric won the 2010 National Debate tournament as well as prestigious Kentucky invitational and round robin tournaments, where he was also the top individual speaker. 

jon sharp has been a debate coach for longer than you have been alive. He has coached for Emory, New Trier, West Georgia, the University of Southern California, and the University of Kentucky. He is currently the Director of Debate at the Georgetown Day School. As a college coach, jon has coached teams to the late elimination rounds of every major tournament in the country, including multiple CEDA National championships. As a newly minted high school coach, his teams have won Greenhill, the Greenhill Round Robin, and the Ohio Valley at the University of Kentucky. He has taught at more than 40 debate labs at the Bates, Berkeley, Emory, Kentucky, and Stanford debate institutes, including directing the Kentucky Fellows Program, the Berkeley Mentors, and the Stanford Swing Lab. His former lab students have won every national tournament on the schedule, including the TOC, and include multiple former TOC top speakers.

Orion is an attorney, college professor and debate coach.  Orion is currently the Director of Forensics (Debate) at the University of San Francisco.  In 2012, Orion began teaching college Public Speaking courses at San Francisco State University and now regularly teaches public speaking at every major college in San Francisco.  In addition, Orion taught several sections of High School public speaking while coaching debate at St. Vincent de Paul High School, and has taught at workshops for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. 

In 2015, Orion began assisting the debate team at University of San Francisco and became the Director of Forensics at the University of San Francisco in January 2016.  Orion is currently a member of the TriForce Debate Cooperative, sharing coaching resources between SFSU, CCSF and USF.  In the Fall of 2013, Orion became the varsity travel team coach for the Bay Area Urban Debate League and asssumed assistant coaching duties at San Francisco State University.   In the Fall of 2011, Orion became an argumentation coach at St. Vincent de Paul High School and qualified a team to the Tournament of Champions for the first time.  Orion was an assistant debate coach and graduate student for California State University at Fullerton from 2009-2011.  Orion worked as an assistant debate coach at the University of Redlands and at San Francisco State University while in Law School from 2005-2008. 

While in law school at UC Hastings, Orion participated as a member (and coach) of the moot court team, winning awards for his rebuttal speeches in Maritime Law.  In college, Orion participated in policy debate at the University of Redlands for 4 years, finishing as a quarter-finalist at the 2004 NDT and as a quarter-finalist and the 16th individual speaker at the 2005 NDT.  Orion participated in policy debate for 3 years at Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended the Tournament of Champions.

Tommye Weddington is currently a sociology PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh focusing on race and social movements. Formerly an assistant coach with the City University of New York (CUNY) debate program, he has over five years of experience instructing communication and argumentation.

Ian Beier is currently a PhD student and assistant coach at the University of Kansas and the College Preparatory School. In 2017, KU cleared three teams to the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament and had one team in the quarter finals of the tournament. In 2016, KU qualified three teams to the National Debate Tournament and made it to the finals of the tournament. From 2013-2015, he coached at Damien High School. During this time, the debate team remained competitively successful and cleared at several national tournaments. In 2015, Damien High School made it to finals of the National Forensics League tournament.  Prior to his time at Damien, Ian was the Assistant Director of Debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2010 to 2013. During that time, UNLV qualified six teams to the National Debate Tournament, qualifying with the top seed in the district in both 2012 and 2013.

Alisha Eastep is an educator and performer with two decades of public speaking experience in a variety of forums, from the classroom to the podium to the stage. Alisha has been captivated by performance since her first exposure at the age of seven, and knows first-hand the importance of strong adult mentors and educators.

Alisha has competed on the national level both individually and in groups, earning accolades in the speech and debate community, in “The Citizen and the Constitution” Competition, and has had numerous roles in community theater and on the stage. In policy debate, she is a national champion, winning Junior Western Nationals in 2004 and placing second in community college national in 2005. She is a published writer and researcher with 16 years of experience, and has earned faculty recognition for her honors research project on a theater community at UC Berkeley in 2011, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Anthropology.

As an educator, Alisha has been nurturing the minds of children of all ages and developmental abilities for a decade, and listens to each of her pupils to get a sense of their individual needs. As opportunities to educate occur inside and outside of the classroom, Alisha has gained valuable knowledge teaching educational curriculum, empowering social and living skills, and workplace training. During the year, Alisha teaches debate at Head-Royce School, where the team earned 9th place in the Tournament of Champions, and does research in East Asian Archaeology and on Foodways in the Pacific Rim. She is ready to put these skills to work creating engaged and thought-provoking activities that foster growth and improve young minds at SNFI.

jon sharp has been a debate coach for longer than you have been alive. He has coached for Emory, New Trier, West Georgia, the University of Southern California, and the University of Kentucky. He is currently the Director of Debate at the Georgetown Day School. As a college coach, jon has coached teams to the late elimination rounds of every major tournament in the country, including multiple CEDA National championships. As a newly minted high school coach, his teams have won Greenhill, the Greenhill Round Robin, and the Ohio Valley at the University of Kentucky. He has taught at more than 40 debate labs at the Bates, Berkeley, Emory, Kentucky, and Stanford debate institutes, including directing the Kentucky Fellows Program, the Berkeley Mentors, and the Stanford Swing Lab. His former lab students have won every national tournament on the schedule, including the TOC, and include multiple former TOC top speakers.

Orion is an attorney, college professor and debate coach.  Orion is currently the Director of Forensics (Debate) at the University of San Francisco.  In 2012, Orion began teaching college Public Speaking courses at San Francisco State University and now regularly teaches public speaking at every major college in San Francisco.  In addition, Orion taught several sections of High School public speaking while coaching debate at St. Vincent de Paul High School, and has taught at workshops for the Bay Area Urban Debate League. 

In 2015, Orion began assisting the debate team at University of San Francisco and became the Director of Forensics at the University of San Francisco in January 2016.  Orion is currently a member of the TriForce Debate Cooperative, sharing coaching resources between SFSU, CCSF and USF.  In the Fall of 2013, Orion became the varsity travel team coach for the Bay Area Urban Debate League and asssumed assistant coaching duties at San Francisco State University.   In the Fall of 2011, Orion became an argumentation coach at St. Vincent de Paul High School and qualified a team to the Tournament of Champions for the first time.  Orion was an assistant debate coach and graduate student for California State University at Fullerton from 2009-2011.  Orion worked as an assistant debate coach at the University of Redlands and at San Francisco State University while in Law School from 2005-2008. 

While in law school at UC Hastings, Orion participated as a member (and coach) of the moot court team, winning awards for his rebuttal speeches in Maritime Law.  In college, Orion participated in policy debate at the University of Redlands for 4 years, finishing as a quarter-finalist at the 2004 NDT and as a quarter-finalist and the 16th individual speaker at the 2005 NDT.  Orion participated in policy debate for 3 years at Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended the Tournament of Champions.