Experience
Speech and Debate Teacher
American Heritage Schools August 2023–Present
Coach of American Heritage School’s speech and debate team, which is ranked in the top 1% of teams nationwide, has been the state champion six years in a row, and us the only team to champion the National Speech and Debate Tournament at both the middle and high school levels.
• Led speech and debate classes from grades 4 to 12 using a custom-built curriculum designed to guide students towards both portable skills and lasting competitive success
• Created a competitive and supportive team culture, resulting in 19 state finalists, 33 bids to the Tournament of Champions, 28 national qualifiers, and 2 national finalists in 2024
• Coach students across all events, including Congressional Debate, Limited Preparation, and World Schools Debate
DEI and Community Planning Coordinator
Kitsap County Commissioner's Office August 2022–July 2023
One of 35 people selected to participate in the Lead for America National Hometown Fellowship, which places young professionals in public service roles in their hometown communities.
• Conducted a year-long listening tour, interviewing over 150 county stakeholders to understand their needs and creating a report for the County Commissioners
• Spearheaded research into equity issues around the county, including a survey of 1,100 staff members, that culminated in the creation of the Kitsap County DEI Manager position
Content Manager
TalkMaze April 2020-June 2022
Founding team member of TalkMaze, an education startup providing online speech and debate education and competition opportunities to schools without the resources for classroom-based teams.
• Led team of two dozen coaches from around the world to develop a standardized, culturally responsive curriculum taught to thousands of students across three continents
• Developed a series of on-demand video courses covering multiple speech and debate events, increasing accessibility and student retention
Overtime Session Field Organizer Intern
Civic Ventures January 2020
One of two interns at Civic Ventures, which advocates for progressive policy changes in the Pacific Northwest.
• Presented information on the "Restore our Time" campaign to dozens of local political party meetings in the Seattle metro area
• Delivered thousands of constituent notecards to Washington legislators, resulting in Washington adopting the strongest overtime protections in the nation
Education
MA, Theory and Practice of Human Rights
University of Essex September 2021–June 2022 My research focued on transgender youth and whether current efforts to legislate their existence constitute human rights violations. I graduated with the Kevin Boyle Memorial Prize for being the top student in my program.
BA, Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, & Race Studies
Pacific Lutheran University September 2019–May 2021 My capstone projects focused on progressive challengers to moderate Democrats and on identity-based arguments in Competitive speech and debate. I graduated cum laude.
Volunteering
Volunteer Administrator
Wikipedia August 2016–Present