Involved in speech and debate in the Dallas area for over four decades, Chris Agee recently retired from Newman Smith High School after 27 years of service to the community. He is a double diamond coach in the National Speech and Debate Association and was inducted into the Texas Forensic Association's Hall of Fame in 2015. A former policy debater for the University of North Texas, Coach Agee qualified for the NDT 3 times during his college career. Since then, he has experienced success in numerous formats and organizations, coaching students to local, state, and national success. Coach Agee is experienced in coaching multiple speech and debate events. In addition to private tutoring for middle-school students, he also provides coaching support to several schools in the metroplex, including Coppell High School and the Greenhill School. "Speech and Debate was a life-changing experience for me beginning at a young age. I was fortunate enough to build a career out of doing what I love the most--sharing these skills with others," he says. Adept at simplifying difficult concepts for younger debaters, Coach Agee is still actively engaged in the speech and debate community and looks forward to offering his unique set of skills to serve a new generation of competitors!

Coach Kanza Jafri has coached and judged high school at various levels since 2016. During that time, she’s worked at Texas Forensics Association, University Interscholastic League, and National Speech and Debate Association tournaments. She has been a consultant for Hebron, Southlake, and Clark High School. Her former students have placed in finals at the TFA state championship. During the summer, Kanza teaches at Harvard’s Summer Debate Council Workshop which she has been involved in since 2019. She has also worked for The Debate Institutes at Dartmouth in 2022. She specializes in Congressional, Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, World, and Policy debate, as well as Extemporaneous, Informative, and Oratory speech.

She graduated with her Bachelors in Consumer Experience Management in 2021 and her Masters in Business in 2022. Kanza enjoys teaching and connecting with students by encouraging them to grow and sharpen skills they can use for a lifetime.

Coach Jonah( from our Partner Modernbrain) is a prized member of Western Kentucky University's nationally recognized forensics team. Jonah is originally from Minnesota, where he was a member of the Apple Valley Speech and Debate team. At Apple Valley, Jonah was the NSDA DUO national champion in both 2020 and 2021. He's the first and only competitor in the NSDA's history to win DUO twice and with different partners. Jonah also made multiple national final rounds at the NIETOC and TOC. In high school, Jonah competed in events like POI, HI, INFO, DUO and Storytelling. Jonah’s performances were not exclusive to speech; he was also a member of Apple Valley’s recognized theatre program and represented his school in the Minnesota all-state choir. He is excited to join the ModernBrain team, and is looking forward to helping students learn how to take on events like DUO interpretation.

Coach Rand (from our partner Modernbrain) a former NSDA national champion who currently competes for Northwestern University’s mock trial team. In high school, Rand won championships in Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Improv Duo, and Original Oratory at invitational and league tournaments alike. Rand earned octofinals in Humorous Interpretation, finals in Expository Speaking, and a National Championship in Storytelling during his junior year. Following high school, Rand enrolled at Northwestern University and joined the school’s nationally recognized mock trial team. In 2021-2022, Rand was selected to compete on Northwestern’s top team at the National Championship Tournament, ultimately earning 8th place at the competition — the program’s best placement in over a decade.

Coach Natalie (from our partner Modernbrain) recently graduated from UCLA after competing for four years on one of the top-ranked Mock Trial teams in the country. She served as co-captain of UCLA’s A Team for three years, leading them to a third and second place division finish at the 2021 and 2022 National Competition Tournaments, and winning seven personal awards for her performance as a closing attorney and expert witness, including two All-Regional Attorney awards in 2019 and 2021. Natalie has served as a UCLA Mock Trial Institute counselor for three years, training high school students in university-level legal analysis and oral argument. Natalie is also an experienced scientific researcher and communicator: in her three years of conducting laboratory research at UCLA, she co-authored three scientific publications, including a review paper sharing cutting-edge discoveries in the use of a T-cell subtype in CAR-based cancer immunotherapy with other researchers in her field. She received Departmental Honors in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics for her graduation thesis and won a Dean’s Prize for excellence in research presentation in 2022.

Rich Simpkins has coached and judged high school various levels for 35 years both on a volunteer and professional basis. During that time, he’s worked TFA, UIL, and NSDA (formerly NFL) speech tournaments, was tournament director for the SMU Symposium Classic from 2004 to 2007, volunteered to coach a new team at Singley Academy (which won the UIL district championship for Lincoln Douglas debate that year, the first year of the team’s existence) and consulted for Hebron High School for the past 6 years. In all, Rich has been a part of more than 300 DFW area tournaments and has judged well over 1,000 rounds of speech and debate events. He specializes in Lincoln Douglas, parliamentary, world, and policy debate, as well as extemporaneous speaking and oratory. Beyond debate, Simpkins has been partner and outreach coordinator for the online book selection engine, WorldsWithoutEnd.com for the past 20 years. Every story is itself an argument, and that’s how he has approached his bookish endeavors, as well. Rich believes that there’s no avenue of research that doesn’t benefit from broad historical and literary context.

Rebel( from our Partner Modernbrain) is director of recruitment and communications. She graduated with honors from Cal State Long Beach with a BS in communication studies and a Master’s in communication studies. She is an award-winning communication researcher, with the top paper in the Women’s Studies Division of the National Communication Conference in 2018. While Dorri was competing, she was a National Finalist in Duo, Persuasion, and Communication Analysis and claimed a title as an AFA award-winning speaker.

Coach JP (from our partner Modernbrain) is an accomplished orator and academic researcher who has spent many years working in corporate settings. He works as a science and technology communicator for the United Nations, which gives him unique insight in coaching Model United Nations students . He has won over 10 different top research, delegation, and committee awards at top National MUN conferences in New York and Washington D.C. John Paul is currently earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering while he presides as founder and president of the Hyperloop research and development team at his university and runs his own nonprofit to help disadvantaged students get STEM internships.

Coach Miles( from our Partner Modernbrain) has designed curriculum and coached for institutions such as the Stanford National Forensic Institute and Campbell Hall High School. The majority of his students have advanced to the elimination rounds of major national tournaments. Miles has years of experience in the college circuit, where he won three collegiate debate state championships and a plethora of accolades in both limited prep speech events and NFA-LD debate.During high school, Coach Miles was an NSDA National Champion, a two-time California State Finalist, and a five-time Stanford invitational finalist. He specialized in Extemp, Impromptu, Oratory, Congress, and Public Forum Debate. Miles was also involved in high school Mock Trial and was named the #1 defense attorney in the Constitutional Rights Foundation's Los Angeles competition.

Frank Smith ( from our Partner Modernbrain) is a speech coach originally from Boston, Massachusetts. A two-time state champion and national semifinalist himself, Frank loves all interpretation events (but particularly adores Humorous Interpretation). He has worked for UTNIF, Fluency, Milton Academy, Leland High School, and many others. He's coached NSDA and NIETOC finalists and champions in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Original Spoken Word Poetry, Prose, Storytelling, Expository, and Programmed Oral Interpretation. In 2021, he coached a four-time Showcase Finalist (the highest possible honor) at NSDA Middle School Nationals.Frank also works as a TV and film writer. He most recently was in the writers’ room on RAVEN’S HOME, the sequel to the hit series THAT’S SO RAVEN, for Disney Channel. Previously, he wrote an animated pilot with Tornante TV, developed a live-action series with Vice Studios (FYRE), and rewrote a horror movie with Fangoria / Cinestate (THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK). He has also published seven plays, a mix of comedy and drama, with the nationally-recognized speech and debate publishers Mushroom Cloud Press and Always Writing 4 U.

Coach Kate ( from our Partner Modernbrain) a NSDA National Champion in Impromptu, a California State Champion in Impromptu, and a Stanford Impromptu and SPAR Champion. She was mentored by the winningest speech coach in Southern California history, and she went on to coach national champions herself. Coach Kate was involved in Speech and Debate since her freshman year of high school. She competed in a wide range of events, including Original Oratory, OPP, Impromptu, Extemp, and Parliamentary debate. She was also the team captain of one of the most successful high school teams in California history. Coach Kate is also an accomplished MUN and Mock Trial competitor and coach. She competed for Brown University.

Coach Natalie found her love of debate during her junior year of high school when she joined Hebron High School’s Congressional Debate team. She quickly rose in notoriety in the same year and was chosen to attend the prestigious American Legion Auxiliary Bluebonnet Girls State, where her love for legislation shone as she was one of the five girl senators whose bill had been chosen for debate on the Texas Senate Floor. Since then, Natalie has coached for Hebron High school's congress and extemporaneous speaking teams while teaching Congressional Debate online, helping debaters learn how to efficiently conduct source research in an era of the rapid spread of information and misinformation. She is working towards a bachelor's degree in Economics with a concentration in International Studies at the University of Dallas.

Coach Marisol graduated from the University of North Texas where she double majored in Communication Studies and Spanish with a minor in Political Science. With an extensive pre-law background, Marisol served as President of Phi Alpha Delta her junior year and helped volunteer with organizations such as RAICES for immigration law needs.

Her passion lies in advocacy and human rights, which was demonstrated when she presented at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2019 about proposed AI solutions to help alleviate the mental health crisis child refugees face.

During her high school career, Marisol competed in Public Forum and UIL Lincoln Douglas debate tournaments, where her passion for public speaking began. Marisol and fellow teammates helped revitalize the debate program at J.J Pearce High School in Richardson, TX. She has judged several debate tournaments since then. Marisol believes in the power of effective communication and is excited to coach students to build their confidence and utilize their voice.