Justin has 26 years involved in competitive debate and two degrees in secondary education. A former Director of Debate at Georgetown and Kansas State, and Head Coach at UNT; he will return for his 6th year of Head Coaching Wake Debate in 2017. His passion is teaching those the essentials of being a great debater. The Junior's lab can expect talk followed by practice, feedback, then practice more. You will be better at debate and speaking when you leave! Whether a team wants to defend hegemony, afro-pessimism, trans rage, or a small arguably topical policy affirmative, Justin has coached them all, successfully. He's a true "flex" coach who dives in the trenches whether it's the final round of the ADA, CEDA or the NDT, or a rebuttal redo in Carswell Hall 405. Justin specializes in making debaters better at what they do best; he has coached CEDA and ADA National Champions, many NDT First Rounds, and top-5 speakers at National Tournaments. While teaching High school he coached Texas State Champions at Dallas Jesuit. While debating he finished 1st and 2nd at the Kentucky Round-Robin was 2nd at NFLs and a Texas State Champion. He also has a standing offer against the students in karaoke, basketball and dancing.

A current coach for the University of Georgia and recent graduate coach at Wake Forest University, Becca was the only critic preferred enough to judge all 5 rounds at the 2015 Wake Forest College Tournament. She has judged numerous deep elimination rounds that included a wide spectrum of arguments. At Wake Forest she has intensely coached teams going for Anti-Blackness and Political Capital Arguments. Before coming to Wake Forest she worked at the University of Florida as an assistant coach where she got her Masters in Art History. As an undergraduate debater, she debated successfully at Missouri State University. Known as a careful judge and a detail-oriented educator, we are excited to have her rejoin us this Summer. Becca is a former attendee of the Wake Forest Workshop.

Jack Manchester cuts cards, a lot of policy cards, stacks and stacks of cards. The best part about it, he loves teaching others how to do it. A junior at Wake Forest who formerly debated for New Trier, has been extremely competitive at the high school and collegiate level, his contributions measure far beyond his individual successes. Although his specialty is cutting policy cards, he has had a fair degree of success defending policy arguments against critical negatives. An extremely patient person by nature, Jack extensively travels the high school circuit. At the Earlybird, he was one of the more highly-preferred critics. He takes learning debate seriously, but always makes sure there is a smile on the students face.

A former Top-Speaker at the TOC and a NAUDL Debater of the Year in 2014, Rayvon combines a very positive attitude with argument accumen and great knowledge on sounding good. In 10 years of hosting a workshop, student reveiws of Rayvon were higher than any other RA/Junior staff. While specializing in critical race research, his sophomore and Junior year at Wake Forest he has also prepared and successfully written arguments from Baudrilliard to Framework to colonialism and to an aff that defends the USFG should stop taking particular actions. He has worked at Georgetown, Stanford and Wake Forest Institutes, we are glad that he will be back with us bringing his knowledge, passion and fun-loving spirit.

Director of Debate at Wake Forest, Dr. Jarrod Atchison is well respected both for his argument acumen and his emphatic insistence on helping students become better debaters and people. After spending several years as an instructor in the top senior lab at Michigan, Jarrod is focused on building a great workshop experience at Wake Forest. He coached a Copeland Winner and NDT First Rounds for the past 8 years. Many don't know he also was an extremely successful debater: top seed at the NDT, Copeland runner-up, and third speaker at the NDT. In high school he won the Greenhill and Harvard Round Robins. Jarrod has judged the final round of the National Debate Tournament 3 times. Both at the high school and college level, regardless of argument choice, Jarrod consistently finds himself at the top of the pref sheets.

Dr. Reid-Brinkley has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses that cover critical theories, rhetoric of public policy and advocacy, social identity theory, with a specialization in African American history, theory, and culture. She is a national award winner for her published work on critical theory, black feminist theory, gender, and hip hop culture. Her dissertation work, completed at the University of Georgia, engaged in an in-depth analysis of non-traditional debate practices. Students in high school and college have cited Dr. Reid-Brinkley’s work in debate competition and she has become a recognized scholar in this field of research. Dr. Reid-Brinkley was a nationally successful debater in the mid-1990’s from the debate powerhouse at Emory University.