Our Instructors
Of Climb The MOuntain Speech and Debate
Tyler
Zabolio
Parker Davidson
Pepper
Berry
Samira Jamaale
Sean
Haggerty
Stacy
Bell
Trinity
Doyle
Eliza McConaghy
Jim Hanson
Adilina
Aguirre
Alex
Cruz
Beth
Cole
Calvin
Pittser
Divya Somysetty
Nico
Roshau
Jason
Sanford
Jennifer Stephens
Kaitlin
Medina
Lyd
Haindfield
Maya
Garzelli
Miriam Hardyway
Executive Director, Climb the Mountain Speech and Debate Foundation
Mr. Hanson is responsible for the instructional creation and organization of the Foundation. Mr. Hanson directs the camp.
He has been a Professor of Communication, Rhetoric and Argument and speech and debate coach for most of his life. As coach, his speech and debate team won 5 squad NDPA national championships, first place CEDA team in the nation (Jessica Clarke and Adam Symonds), first place NDT speaker (Charles Olney), and first place NPDA speaker (Miranda Morton) as well as over 1000 debate awards and 500 individual speaking events awards. Jim works had to setup the programs, instructors, judges, and instructional materials so they work best for each of our students. Email him at any time you have a question.
Jim Hanson
Adilina serves as an assistant to Jim Hanson doing data analysis, preparing teams, reviewing student results. Adilina has also worked as an instructor in LD debate and speaking events in both of which she has extensive experience. Adilina is an incredibly smart instructor that will help you see how to improve clarifying concepts and strategies effectively.
Adilina Aguirre
Alex did Parliamentary and Congress style debate for 2.5 years during high school. He is the Team Captain of Seattle University's debate program, doing both British Parliamentary style debate and Impromptu speaking. As well as this, he is one of Climb the Mountain’s most popular instructors with students and schools specifically requesting his instruction. He has judged and assisted in the running of the Seattle University 3-12 grades tournaments. He has also worked with children in multiple summer camp settings, from traditional overnight camps to day camps. He also worked as a summer school teacher's assistance, teaching students about internet safety and how to work technology properly. Alex brings his energy, conversational and relatable style to instructing you.
Alex Cruz
Beth Cole participated in collegiate CEDA debate 1987-1989 for East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. Beth won several awards including sharing a partnership of the Collegiate State Championship Debater of Tennessee in 1989. Beth became ETSU’s Director of Forensics for 1990-1993. She coached students in CEDA debate and individual speaking events to numerous awards, including a Special Coaches’ Award at Southern Connecticut University Tournament, Spring 1991 and the overall team Tennessee State Championship in Spring 1992. Beth returned to her debate roots upon retirement in fall 2021. Beth began online debate judging and has since judged hundreds of rounds of debate and individual speaking events, including Public Forum Finals for Harvard and Stanford University tournaments. Beth began judging work for Climb the Mountain in Fall 2021 and soon also began teaching elementary, middle school, and high school debate for them as well as teaching for Climb’s online camps. She truly loves teaching debate and values the life changing, transformative skills debate has to offer.
Beth Cole
In their debate Career, Calvin competed at over 30 tournaments, including 6 national circuit tournaments. They have broken from their sophomore year at the Stanford Invitational Tournament to the National Tournament their senior year. They have also taught novice debaters how to debate student congress and how to speak in impromptu for two years. Calvin has attended over 45 labs in their sophomore year when the requirement was 10 and in junior and senior year they attended over 70 when the requirement was 20. Calvin was a member and unofficial CEO of a lunch group at his former high school called the "Lunch Bunch" officially that ensured that no one ate lunch alone out of fear or social anxiety. Calvin also worked with multiple grades to help prevent bullying and give all students a safe space to eat, talk, and make friends. Calvin is a popular teacher working with our elementary, middle school debaters along with Congressional debaters in middle school and high school, plus our speaking events program.
Calvin Pittser
Speech Captain and had the honor of coaching many of teammates to the CHHSA State Speech & Debate Championship in 2023. She is very passionate about helping kids and teaching them about Speech. She has been tutoring students at Agoura Math Circle and loves teaching students and helping them learn new things. Divya has also taken many communication classes in high school along with taking a public speaking course in high school. She was involved in Choir all throughout high school and became Choir President at her high school.
Divya Somysetty
Eliza was in competitive debate in middle school. In high school, they were in political science classes at North Seattle Community College. They have taught summer camp classes for many summers at The Evergreen School and The Woodland Park Zoo. They have been a nanny for five years since they were thirteen. In high school they were a leader of GSA and organized events and advocated for the LGBTQ+ students are their school when the administration closed the main gender-neutral restroom. In college, they were the leader of their animal behavior research project. Eliza has taught Climb students successfully for the past year.
Eliza McConaghy
Jason Sanford
Jason has coached hundreds of students over the past few decades, and judged thousands of students at local, regional, national, and international tournaments. Jason won the Harvard University Public Speaking Championships and multiple Policy and Parliamentary Debate tournaments. Jason also brings extensive experience from the private industry sector, having won industry brand awards for product presentations, including CADILLAC, HYUNDAI, MINI, KIA, and FIAT. Jason has recently returned fulltime to teaching to share his passion for effective communication, advocacy, and professional discourse. Jason is ready to bring his caring and thoughtful teaching to make you an excellent communicator.
Jennifer L. Stephens, MA, JD, is an attorney and university instructor. She teaches Politics & Philosophy courses at the University of Idaho. She's competed in Lincoln Douglas debate, Parliamentary debate, and other competitive alternative dispute resolution and trial advocacy events. Fall of 2017 she was also an applicant for the Seattle City Council, where she enjoyed a week-long foray into local politics. Her passion for law is matched by her dedication to teaching speech, debate, and civic education to students of all ages. Jennifer will help you become a better speaker and debater in our program.
Jennifer Stephens
Kaitlin has been an excellent instructor in our programs. She brings clarity, enthusiasm and care to her teaching. She has competed in the National History Day competition presenting her chosen historical topic and associated argument at the national level to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She has served as the Lieutenant Governor for Key Club, with immense public speaking experience within schools and Kiwanis events. She also canvassed for a local political candidate over the summer. She graduated with her associate's degree and high school diploma at the same time, demonstrating immense organization. Kaitlin will bring that dedicated effort to help you improve as a debater and a speaker.
Kaitlin Medina
Lyd Haindfield has been with Climb for three years as a summer camp instructor. They debated for seven years through high school and college, competing in over 70 tournaments. In high school, they were debate captain, qualified for Nationals and the TOC, competed in public forum and speech events, earned over 23 awards, ranked top 5 in Washington (Fall 2019), lettered in debate, and received the NFL’s Premier Distinction. In college at Western Washington University, they served as student director, competed in Cross-Examination and CARD debate, qualified for the NDT, reached Doubles at CEDA Nationals, and went undefeated at Big Tent 2022. Now pursuing a law degree at Seattle University, Lyd brings a deep commitment to inclusive, accessible debate through work with groups like Beyond Resolved and the Women’s Debate Institute.
Lyd Haindfield
Maya has debated with the Western Washington University Debate Union since Fall 2020 in the recently-named CARD format (previously known as PNW Debate). They have competed in many tournaments, placing first once and tying for first several other times (in rounds without a final showcase), and have won first-place awards for excellence in evidence and excellence in community-building. They taught lessons and workshops about various social issues as a part of a volunteer/youth leadership program called Global Visionaries for three years. They also worked in childcare for many years. They were involved in fundraising and outreach activities for Global Visionaries such as giving classroom presentations, participating in phone banks, and volunteering and speaking at the annual fundraising gala. Maya is ready to bring their experience and talent in speaking and debating to help you achieve your goals as a speaker and debater.
Maya Garzelli
Miriam is a highly prized instructor with Climb having worked with us for a year and a half. Miriam tutored high school students and participated in a public speaking competition for a medical conference. She was involved in the HOSA medical club, oversaw 40+ members as the Secretary. She took care of fundraisers, blood drives, medical and non-medical conferences while working with a team of other officers. She is caring and very clear instructor providing outstanding instruction to young debaters, especially elementary debaters. She also serves as greeter during our summer camp. Miriam is ready to help you succeed.
Miriam Hardyway
Nico is one of the mostly highly sought out instructors in our program. She has worked with Climb for six years including doing clinics, camps, and our afterschool program—teaching in all facets of our programming. Nico did three years of policy debate in high school. As a team, their sophomore year they were in the top 20 teams at the Stanford Invitational. They also qualified for state all three years. Nico has also won many speaker awards in debate. Nico has done three years of interp, and one of oratory. She broke at state in two interp events (DI and DUO) as well as oratory and also qualified for nationals in OO. She has also gone to NIETOC for DI, DUO and OO, and was top 50 in DUO in 2017 at NIETOC. Nico was also voted by her class as most valuable speaker for speech and debate in 2017.
Nico Roshau
Parker has worked with Climb the Mountain since 2019. They debated in British Parliamentary and IPDA as a student at Seattle University, receiving multiple awards in both formats from the US and Canada. They have additionally served as an assistant coach at Seattle University since 2020 and have provided workshops and guest instruction at several other universities across the continent. Parker also is an advisor with The Debating International and the Asia Debating Group. They have served as a tabmaster or chief adjudicator for over 20 tournaments ranging from elementary to college in age range. They received their BA in Political Science from Seattle University in 2020. Coaching the college students and working full-time as a fundraising manager for a children’s museum make Parker a busy person, but you’ll still see them working as a tabulator and organizer for our tournaments, having been called “the human version of a Personal Information Management system” by Jim himself.
Parker Davidson
Pepper has 4 years of high school debate, 3 years in Lincoln Douglas, 1 year in policy, and a few tournaments in public forum, as well as a year of college debate doing IPDA and British parliamentary debate. They did 1 year of high school speech including Impromptu, Informative and Poetry slam. They also have 2 years of judging experience in Lincoln Douglas, public forum, policy debate and Speech. Pepper has won multiple awards in college including winning the Linfield Northwest Forensics Conference BP Division and top 10 speaker at the Climb Spring Championship.
Pepper Berry
Samira has done collegiate debate participating in the Climb Team IPDA tournament and has judged at the May 21st debate tournament hosted at Seattle U: judged elementary school students. She was an officer of the student government at Shoreline Community College. During her term, she sat on administrative committees such as the budget committee (managed the entire school's budget) and the presidential search committee (which led a nation-wide search of the next president of the college). She was the president of her Collegiate DECA charter from 2021-22, advanced to state with second place and nationals and won a medal from the event. From these experiences, she has developed her public speaking and presentation skills. Samira is ready to teach you to grow as a speaker and debater.
Samira Jamaale
Sean helped begin our Climb program at Jing Mei school in Bellevue helping elementary school debaters engage in debate for the first time. While working towards earning a black belt, Sam aided the instructors in teaching kids' discipline, respect, and self-control. Sean completed a public speaking class in college that has greatly influenced his communication skills. He also has a lot of babysitting experience ranging from taking care of 8- to 12-year-olds. Sean is also an IRS certified tax assistant providing intake and currently volunteering as a front desk greet man at a hope link establishment helping people with their tax returns. In the past Sean has volunteered with multiple groups like the "Feed My Starving Children" where he would prepare dry meals that were sent to developing countries around the world. And a few months ago, he volunteered at Foundation Fighting Blindness, where I helped kids write their names and other words in braille. Sean is ready to bring teaching and speaking experience along with debate instructional skills to help you achieve your goals.
Sean Haggerty
Stacy's coaching experience spans ten years with the Pacific NW Middle School Debate League. Initially connected with California programs, the Seattle league later developed its own three-on-three parliamentary debate guidelines due to growth and local preference. Stacy helped document these rules, served as a tournament coordinator for over five years, and co-led the league as co-president. Her teams have earned numerous awards at Seattle events, and she has hosted tournaments for other schools. For over thirty years, Stacy has taught English to native speakers and language learners, focusing on reading comprehension and writing. She incorporates debate in her academic classes to build public speaking skills and explore literature. Stacy has led electives in music, theater, and debate, and supported student travel to events like regional debate tournaments, ski trips, and white-water rafting. She has also held leadership roles in nonprofits, including managing at the Seattle Children's Museum. At Climb, Stacy is a lead instructor and co-manages several programs, including the Seattle University tournament.
Stacy Bell
Trinity debated BP style debate for 2 years while at Seattle University. She has now recently graduated and is now enrolled in law school where she will also be an assistant coach for the SU team.
She has judged and assisted in the running of the Seattle University’s tournaments and has done both online and in-person instruction for Climb the Mountain.
Trinity founded and led her high school’s Podcast Club, ensuring that every student could listen in to school news and have relatable and friendly content.
She brings her relaxing, supportive, and fun attitude to the classroom.
Trinity Doyle
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 Junior year at 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 three 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.
Tyler Zabolio
