Olivia Bishop has competed in public speaking and debate-related activities for almost a decade. This includes high school, where she competed nationally in the formats policy, public forum, and world schools during her last two years. A graduate of the University of Washington, Olivia studied philosophy and political science while participating in mock trial, a nationally competitive, academic team that competes across the country. Olivia has years of experience working with children and loves to watch her students grow confident in their individual voices. She finds herself inspired by her students and hopes to inspire them in return.
Anna Caragio has been involved with speech and debate for six years, both actively competing and teaching. She's won numerous awards in debate, including almost every local tournament her senior year of high school and Second Top Speaker at the Cal National Debate Institute Summer Tournament. In 2018, Anna founded and instructed the middle school debate team at Galileo Stem Academy and is passionate about teaching critical thinking skills to youth. Anna attends California Polytechnic State University, furthering her education in Political Science and Statistics.
Hannah Dahleen is a recent University of Washington graduate with a degree in English and political science. During her time as an undergraduate student, she served as the president of the UW Mock Trial team and won awards at the all-national level for her performance as an attorney. Currently, she works in the legal field and volunteers as an assistant coach for the collegiate Mock Trial team. She's tutored students of all ages in debate and mock trial and is passionate about writing, teaching and advocacy.
Daisy Fernandez started Mock Trial eight years ago because her mom told her to, and she has loved it ever since. She is currently studying English and Global Studies at the University of Washington, where she is also a member of the award-winning undergraduate mock trial team. Daisy is excited to teach her students public speaking tips and tricks, but more importantly, she hopes they gain confidence during every lesson. Activities like mock trial were life-changing for her younger self, and she hopes that her students discover their own excitement for debate
Reese Haley has six years of experience debating in middle and high school, including three years in the Idaho tournament bracket. She's won numerous awards in public speaking and qualified for the 2020 Idaho State Debate Tournament before its cancellation due to Covid. Reese founded and coached her own debate camps for elementary and middle school students, teaching beginning and intermediate debate skills. In addition, Reese has several years' experience working with children as a private nanny and daycare. She is passionate about teaching debate to kids and is committed to creating an engaging, educational, and fun environment for all DebateAble students!
Griffin Hehmeyer is a student at the University of Washington with over six years of debate experience. He was ranked top five in the state for three separate events after winning dozens of Lincoln-Douglas (LD), Impromtu, and Extemporaneous tournaments throughout high-school, qualifying for nationals three times in both LD and Extemporaneous. Since graduating, Griffin has made it a priority to stay connected with debate, volunteering as an assistant coach for his local high-school. In his freshman year he founded and has since been leading UW’s only standing debate team. Acting now as both a coach and competitor, he has guided several students to 1st-place finishes as well as earning some himself. Whether teaching or competing, Griffin emphasizes community engagement, analytical and logical thinking, as well as taking risks. He’s immensely proud to begin working with the DebateAble community!
Avalyn Hine has been debating competitively for over seven years. In high school, she qualified for Nationals multiple years in a row in Lincoln Douglas, Congress, and extemporaneous speaking formats. Avalyn also received top speaker awards at many national circuit tournaments as well as bids to the Tournament of Champions. She is currently in her senior year at Gonzaga University, participating in policy debate while majoring in Philosophy and Economics. Avalyn, who has coached for DebateAble since 2020, loves working with young people and has extensive experience as a tutor, nanny and debate club camp lab leader. She emphasizes engagement and critical thinking in her lessons and is particularly skilled at teaching kids to dig deep to develop the reasoning that supports their arguments.
Cara Liu is a student at Columbia University with four years of experience in both competitive debate and teaching. She placed as one of the top four debaters at state tournaments for three years in a row and placed at every local tournament her junior and senior year. She previously started and ran her own summer debate camp for kids, focusing on the basic structures of debate as well as developing their public speaking skills. She deeply values the skills that come with debate and has a passion for teaching debate to young people in order to inspire them to participate in high school debate and beyond.
Linda Sabee started coaching with DebateAble in April of 2022. As a former elementary and middle school teacher, Linda brings classroom expertise and management skills to the role of DebateAble coach. She also owned her own business for 20 years which provides her a set of life skills and perspective that enriches her coaching. Linda sings professionally and performs regularly in the Seattle area, loves cats and has two stinky beasts named Coco and Vlad. Linda looks forward to helping build a next generation of confident, respectful and engaged citizens!
Tyler Zabolio has been in the world of competitive debate for over seven years. In high school, he competed at both the state and national levels in impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking, and Public Forum debate. The NSDA ranked him a top 50 Impromptu speaker as well as a top 50 ranked Public Forum debater in Washington State his junior and senior years. Tyler is now on the policy debate team at Gonzaga University and gets to travel all around the country debating! He is in his sophomore year GU, majoring in Business Administration with a focus in Public Law and Policy. Tyler is also working towards minors in both Political Science and Leadership. He has two years of debate coaching experience and loves to work with kids. In his lessons, students will work on critically engaging with arguments to reach the deepest levels of understanding.
Tess Petrillo did DebateAble as a kid and is excited to help teach new DebateAble students in this full circle moment! Tess is currently a junior at the University of Washington and is majoring in Environmental Studies with a minor in Environmental Science and Geography. They hope to attend law school to become an environmental lawyer or work in the non-profit sector to provide aid to houseless residents. Tess is passionate about environmental justice and increasing equity, and loves any opportunity to guide kids with these values. Tess has worked with children of all ages in different classroom setting and is looking forward to the DebateAble teaching experience. Tess thinks that the perspectives and opinions of young people are some of the most important. They grateful for the ability to learn, grow, and exchange ideas with kids while helping support them as they come into their identities.
