Debate Camp
C A N A D A
Summer Programs in Public Speaking and Debate
All Ability Levels Welcome - Grades 5 - 11
OUR PEOPLE
Camp Director: Nick Szymanis
Nick is Director of Academics at the Sterling Hall School in Toronto and past President of the International Independent Schools Public Speaking League. He has coached debating and hosted annual tournaments for the past 15 years. He has trained students towards worlds-level debate in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2011. Nick, alongside a group of UBC Debate Society members founded Debate Camp Canada in 2001. Nick, his wife Oona and sons Noah and Aaron live in Toronto.
Assistant Director - Western Canada: Lindsay Spencer
Lindsay is an English and Social Studies teacher at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver, B.C. She is the current President of the Debate and Speech Association of B.C., CSDF Director for Western Canada and the Assistant Debate Coach at WPGA. Lindsay is also a past Debate Camp camper and has competed and judged at national and international competitions. She recently returned from judging at the World Schools Debating Championship for Team Canada in Thailand.
Assistant Director - Eastern Canada: Paul O' Rourke
Paul is the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP) Coordinator at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. He is the Past President of the International Independent Schools Public Speaking League, and Past President of the Fulford League of Debating, a 20 member Independent School league in Ontario. As a long-time coach at Ridley College he has trained students to qualify for the World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships in 2005, 2006, 2007.
Program Coordinators for 2015
Cole Bricker, Meghan Ackland, Caroline Mei and Lewis Fainer
Cole Bricker is a fourth year history student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Cole attended Debate Camp in 10th grade, and went on to win the top speaker award at the Canadian National Debating Championships in grade 12. Debating for McGill, Cole has won the Canadian and North American Championships in British Parliamentary debating, and finished as a semi-finalist at the World University Debating Championships in Chennai, India.
Meghan Ackland is a fourth year student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. She has been part of the Canadian university debate circuit since 2010, serving as CUSID President on 2013 - 14. She has appeared in the top ten speakers at multiple tournaments across the country and has broken at many tournaments including the Hart House IV, Canadian Nationals, the Canadian Central Championships, and the Women's North American Championships.
Caroline Mei is a fourth-year biology, political science, and Arabic language student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Caroline attended Debate Camp in 11th grade and has been a staff member since 2012. Caroline has been actively involved with the McGill Debating Union, serving as secretary in 2012-2013. She is the 2012 Canadian Novice Champion and has won speaker awards at the North American Debating Championships, the Seagram IV, and the Yale IV.
Lewis Fainer is entering his second year of a joint degree in law and global affairs at the University of Toronto. He has worked at Debate Camp Canada since 2010 and has coordinated our Ontario and Nova Scotia programs. Lewis has attended the World University Debating Championships three times and was President of the McGill Debating Union during his undergraduate. He has won awards at the North American Championship, Yale Invitational and Hart House Invitational. He also served as the Chief Adjudicator of the 2015 Canadian Parliamentary National Championships at McGill University.
Program Staff: Each year we strive to hire some of the world's best university-level debaters, particularly those we feel will inspire young people. The success of camp over the past six summers would not have been possible without the contributions of many legendary staff members, all of whom have assisted in morphing together one of the best training programs of its kind. Staff for Summer 2015 will be indicated below once hiring is complete in May.
[*] Indicates past camper [**] Indicates worlds level finalists
Greg Allen, University of Victoria, Program Coordinator - 2002 - 2004
Meghan Ackland, Carleton University, Program Staff 2014, Coordinator - 2015
Sarah Balkrishnan* McGill University Program Staff – 2011
Jaqueline Bell, University of British Columbia, Program Staff – 2006
Jen Bond, Dalhousie University, Program Staff - 2005, 2008
Cole Bricker*, McGill University, Program Staff - 2012 – 2014, Coordinator 2015
Alex Campbell, Oxford University, Program Staff - 2005
Diedre Casey, University of Toronto, Program Staff – 2012
Nicholas Caverhill, Yale University, Program Staff - 2014
Kasha Chang, University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2007
Isabel Chen*, Yale University, Program Staff - 2007
Morris Choi*, Cornell University, Program Staff - 2011
Andrew Cormier, Carleton University, Program Staff, 2015
Adam Coombs, Carleton University, Program Staff - 2008 - 2010
James Crossman, University of Alberta, Program Staff - 2006
Alan Cliff, Harvard University, Program Coordinator - 2008, 2010
Natasha Dhingra*, MacMaster University, Program Staff - 2013 – 2015
Elspeth Easton, University of Victoria, Program Staff, 2015
Kathleen Elhattan-Lake*, University of Toronto, Program Staff, 2015
Emma Ellison*, University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2006
Kaya Ellis, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2013
Lewis Fainer, McGill University, Program Coordinator 2010 - 2015
Monica Ferris, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2003
Aislin Flynn, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2013, 2014
Ethan Fortes, University of British Columbia, Program Staff, 2015
Riva Gold, Columbia University, Program Staff - 2008 - 2012
Leon Grek, Oxford Univeristy, Program Staff - 2008
Veenu Goswami, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2012, 2014, 2015
Mars He, Harvard University, Program Intern 2014, Staff 2015
Shaughnessy Hawkins, Cambridge University, Program Staff - 2008, 2009
Teddy Harrison, Oxford Univeristy , Program Coordinator - 2005 - 2007
Adam Heatherington, Queen's University, Program Staff 2010
Alex Heatherington, University of Western Ontario, Program Staff 2010
Sarah Ingimundson*, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2004
Maria Jogova*, University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2007
Elliot Kaufman*, Stanford University, Program Intern 2013, Staff 2014
Spencer Keys. University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2002 - 2004
Michael Kotrly** University of Toronto , Program Staff - 2002 - 2006
Nick Krause*, University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2004, 2005
Zephi Kramer, University of Britsh Columbia, Program Staff, 2015
Joanna Langille, Oxford University, Program Staff - 2003, 2004
Nicola Langille, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2004 - 2007, 2009
Katherine LeBlanc, University of Ottawa, Program Staff, 2015
Tracey Lee, University of British Columbia, Assistant Camp Director - 2003 - 2007
Adrienne Lipsey. University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2006
Madeline Lisus, University of Toronto., Program Staff – 2012
Valentin Litvin*, McGill University, Program Staff - 2014
Keenan MacNeal, McGill University, Program Staff, 2015
Liam Mather, McGill University, Program Staff, 2014, 2015
Helen McGraw, University of Pennsylvania, Program Staff - 2004
Sophie McIntyre, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2008 - 2010
Caroline Mei*, McGill University, Program Staff - 2012 – 2014, Coordinator 2015
Tinley Melvin*, University of Chicago, Program Staff - 2012
Daniel Milton, McGill University, Program Staff, 2014, 2015
Amir Mohareb, York University, Program Staff - 2008
Cody Moskovitz
Joanna Nairn**, Harvard University, Program Staff - 2005 - 2007
Murphy O'Connor*, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2011 - 2012
Jesse Ouyang, McGill University, Program Staff, 2015
Ksenia Podvoiskaia, Queen's University, Program Staff, 2015
Chris Puskas*, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2015
Jess Prince **, Oxford University, Program Staff - 2002 - 2006
Geethika Radhakrishnan, University of Toronto, Program Staff, 2015
Ben Reedjik, McGill University, Program Staff, 2015
James Renihan, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2003, 2004
Calvin Rosemond*, McGill University, Program Staff - 2012 - 2014
Emma Robiard-Cole, Carlton University, Program Staff - 2010
Jason Rogers **, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2003 - 2007
Padraic Ryan, Carleton University, Program Staff - 2007
Joudy Sarraj, University of Toronto, Program Staff, 2015
Mohammed Saraj, MacMaster University, Program Staff – 2014, 2015
Lindsay Spencer* University of British Columbia, Assistant Director, 2014, 2015
Mimi Scowen, McGill University, Program Staff - 2014
Josh Stark, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2008 - 2010
Taylor Steele*, Columbia University, Program Staff - 2008 - 2010
Sacha Saunders, McGill University, Lifeguard - 2005 - 2009
Sean Stefanik, New York University, Program Coordinator 2008 - 2010
Ashish Sinnah, University of British Columbia, Program Staff - 2006
Blair Stein, Carleton University, Program Staff – 2007
Alexa Sulzenko, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2005, 2008
Mwanza Tshimbalanga*, McGill University, Program Staff, 2014, 2015
Christine Wadsworth, University of Toronto, Program Staff - 2010