About our speech and debate coaches/mentors and Team Members:
Our philosophy behind our coaching is a little unique. We want to come along side you or your student, or even as you a parent or coach! This more than a tour guide, this becomes a relationship. Our goals, are your goals…
Are you wanting to take your speech to the next level? Are you looking to brain storm? Need help coming up with ideas? We can help guide you in picking your piece or provide feedback on your platform. We can help work choreography or characterization in your Interp… we can do it all! But most importantly, we do it with you!
Check out our awesome group of coaches that would love to help! Most coaching sessions last approximately an hour. Due to Heather Neumann’s high demand, her sessions are approximately 50 minutes.
Please take the time to read our coaches bios. When you contact us for coaching, we will help you find the right fit…
Coaches
 | Heather Neumann Heather Neumann is the founder of Lasting Impact! She empowers her clients to find their inner voice through public speaking. Heather says, "There is a power your voice has. It has the ability to make a lasting impact. All you have to do is use it." In addition to coaching Speech and Debate students across the country, she is also a speaker coach for TedX. Heather has been blessed to have coached thousands of students, including National Championship speakers. |
 | Kristi Eskelund Kristi Eskelund’s background is first and foremost that of a teacher, with a long background in speech, debate, and drama. Kristi competed as a youth in what was then the National Forensics League. She has been a high school English and Speech teacher for over 30 years, teaching in public schools, college extension courses, and home school classes. She has seen her four oldest children through to adulthood, and she currently teaches a home school literature course and works as a substitute teacher in rural North Carolina public schools.On the personal side, Kristi is married to Retired USMC Colonel Dave Eskelund, and after moving with the Marine Corps for 30 years, Kristi is glad to be settled on a 25-acre farm where she and the Colonel raise sheep, chickens, bees, and lots of garden things. |
 | Ethan Tong Ethan Tong ('19 NCFCA alumnus) has coached for over five years after a successful high school career that included fifteen top-3 placements and two national oral advocate awards. He went on to garner an outstanding attorney award and two outstanding witness awards in College Mock Trial. Now, he coaches LD, TP, and Moot. His coaching philosophy emphasizes that persuasion is about teaching judges, not just sounding good to your peers. His private students routinely place at the national level, including nearly sweeping the 7 Oral Advocate awards available at Nationals last year. One of his teams made the final round. |
 | Lynda DePasacreta Lynda comes to us with a BFA in Directing for the Theatre and completed her degree at the Royal Academy of Dramatic art in London England. She has a passion for helping students find their voice as having lost her own for a while made her see that it doesn’t matter how talented you are, but how passionate you are for the subject you are speaking about. This is her 9th season with NCFCA and loves her role as lead speech coach for SNOW club in the great state of NH where she now resides with her husband and the last of 4 children who, thankfully, has a couple of years left to compete. |
 | Emalyn (Sharp) George Emalyn has a BA in English and Liberal Arts, and is passionate about sharing a love for sound writing. She competed in the NCFCA for four years from 2017-2020. During that time, she competed in 11 different speech categories, and she was honored to compete at the National Championship each year. Additionally, she competed in Lincoln Douglas for one year, and Team Policy for three. She prefers to coach Team Policy and Platform speaking, encouraging students to build a strong, well-prepared base from which to work. |
 | Honor (Persing) Hoffmann Honor (Persing) Hoffmann competed in NCFCA for 7 years, from 2015-2022. During her years of competition she made lots of new friends, gained awareness and confidence, qualified to Nationals in multiple categories, and - most importantly - met her now-husband. Honor coached her club in both team policy and speech, and loves helping students connect with their judges and become genuine and thoughtful communicators. She loves to see students become passionate about the things that matter. Honor's own passion will always be limited prep, although Team Policy also has a special place in her heart. If you want to really get her going, ask her why everyone should try extemp. Honor was part of the Lasting Impact! Team Policy Sourcebook Team for the 2022-23 Season."I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun - not because I can see it, but because by it I can see everything else." -C.S. Lewis |
 | Nathanael Kolssak Nathanael Kolssak is an NCFCA alum who competed for seven years in nearly every speech category and three forms of debate. Having achieved nationally ranked status in speech and debate, Nathanael has continued his journey at Cedarville University, where he is currently pursuing a degree in communication and entrepreneurship. Going beyond his academic pursuits, Nathanael has found fulfillment in coaching high school speech and debate. Nathanael's approach to debate is unique, as he is a staunch advocate for developing narratives that captivate judges and create a winning storyline. |
 | Charis Baker After falling in love with debate at the first tournament she watched, Charis competed in Stoa for five years. During that time, she participated in every speech and debate event that Stoa offered, including multiple wildcards. She broke to speech finals in a variety of events including Apologetics, Extemporaneous, Expository, Interp in a Box, Impromptu, Open Interpretation, and Oratory Analysis, finishing her career by competing in Extemporaneous finals at the national tournament. During her senior year, Charis placed in the top two Lincoln Douglas Speakers at seven tournaments, eventually going on to become Lincoln Douglas Speaker season-long champion and Speaker Champion at nationals. Charis won Lincoln Douglas and Parliamentary Debate finals at numerous tournaments during her career. When she is not coaching, researching, or writing, Charis enjoys practicing flute, piano, and voice, growing in her graphic design abilities, pursuing internship opportunities, and working as a construction estimator. |
 | Drew Swanberg Drew is a region five NCFCA Alumni who competed in speech and debate. During his senior year, he went to nationals in Lincoln Douglas debate after winning the regional championship. After graduation from Classical Conversations, he went on to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Drew is fascinated by ideas. He likes to think, hear from those who disagree with him and is willing to challenge that which is widely accepted. He believes in debating with integrity; and being a debater who values truth, understanding and honesty. Most instrumental to Drew’s debate success is probably that he enjoys it so much. While he believes that how you conduct yourself is much more important than if you win, he will argue there is no sport better than debate when it comes to expression of creative and strategic thinking. After graduating, he began coaching in order to impart his love of debate as a sport, and communication as a skill to future competitors and students. |
 | Roman Hogancamp Roman Hogancamp will be attending Patrick Henry College this fall, majoring in Strategic Intelligence with an emphasis in Economics. During his senior year, Roman qualified for the NCFCA National Championship in Team Policy Debate, Moot Court, and seven speeches, including: Apologetics, Biblical Thematic, Digital Presentation, Extemporaneous, Impromptu, Informative and Persuasive. Qualifying for the NCFCA National Tournament throughout high school, Roman has earned such distinctions as 2024 Extemporaneous National Champion, 2nd place in Informative Speaking, 8th in Humorous, 12th in Digital Presentation, and 21st in Team Policy Debate. Roman has also served, first as a speech and debate mentor, and then as a Team Policy Coach.Outside of speech and debate, Roman teaches K-4th grade Sunday School at his local church, is employed as a Paintball referee, plays pickleball, and builds and plays guitars—electric guitar being his favorite. Daniel 12:3 proclaims, “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” That is Roman’s prayer, to allow God to shine brightly through him, that he may lead many to righteousness. |
 | Kaleb Koch Kaleb Koch is an NCFCA alumnus, competing from 2017-2022. He qualified to nationals in every event he competed in throughout his last two years of competition, placing first in Apologetics and Team Policy debate at regionals his final season. He has continued to compete in college forensics, and in both years set records for his school in national placements, receiving gold awards in policy debate, impromptu, and extemp. Kaleb has coached multiple debate camps, as well as done personal coaching for national finalists. Kaleb has a passion for debate and is excited to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of competitors. |
 | Hannah Cavanaugh Hannah Cavanaugh is an NCFCA alumna who competed in the NCFCA for 6 years and hascontinued to compete in forensics throughout college. Hannah is currently a junior at Regent University studying Government with a focus on American Government and Politics. During her NCFCA career, she won tournaments at both the national and regional levels in Extemporaneous, Apologetics, Impromptu, Informative, Digital Presentation, Lincoln-Douglas Speaker, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Moot Court. In addition to earning distinction at qualifying tournaments, she was the 2022 National Champion in Lincoln-Douglas Debate Speaking, the 2nd place Extemporaneous speaker at the 2023 National Championship, and the 2023 National Champion in Moot Court. Since graduating, Hannah has begun coaching for the NCFCA, STOA, NSDA, and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation’s debate league. She specializes in limited prep, platforms, and debate. Her private students have excelled at both the regional and national levels, winning qualifying tournaments and most recently including the 1st and 2nd place Oral Advocates at the 2024 National Championship. |
 | Serenity Spada Serenity Spada is an NCFCA alumna who competed in the NCFCA for eleven years, starting as a junior at age 6. During her time in the NCFCA, she competed in Impromptu, Informative, Persuasive, Original, Open, and Digital presentations. She received multiple first-place titles in Impromptu, Open, and Informative at Qualifying, Regional, and National Open tournaments. In 2021, she was crowned as the Open Interpretation National Champion. In 2022, she took a break from competition and then, in 2023, returned to the NCFCA, where she won the National Championship in informative.Serenity now attends Regent University, majoring in Secondary Education in History and Social Science. She is passionate about teaching and providing insight and guidance for her students. Serenity’s approach to coaching is unique for each student as they grow in their own journey at the NCFCA! |
Team Members
 | Chloe Peters Chloe has been affiliated with NCFCA for 10 years. She competed in junior speech for 3 years and senior speech for 7 years. During that time, Chloe competed in 11 different speech categories (After-Dinner Speaking, Biblical Presentation, Biblical Thematic, Digital Presentation, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Illustrated Oratory, Impromptu, Informative, Open, Persuasive) as well as Lincoln-Douglas debate and Team Policy debate. Outside of NCFCA, she has competed in forensics through three other organizations (4-H, Coolidge Cup, and the American Association of Christian Schools.) Besides competing in speech and debate, Chloe enjoys participating in various dramatic arts programs, raising livestock, playing the violin, and working as a respite care attendant. |
 | Lainey Hoyt Lainey is a homeschool graduate from the lovely coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, passionate about using the gifts God has given her to bless others. Alaina also works at a locally owned business as a cashier. She spends her time gardening, designing, reading, and making stickers for her small business. She has a bubbly personality and loves to laugh and enjoys the company of her friends and family! |
![](https://lastingimpact.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2022_Family_Whitacre-3.jpeg") | Kaeley Whitacre Kaeley Whitacre is an NCFCA alumni who competed for five years from 2019-2023. She qualified to the National Championship twice in Lincoln-Douglas and once in Team Policy, placing quarterfinals or higher at nationals each time. In the 2022 season Kaeley made it to finals at the North Carolina Open and at the National Championship in Team Policy Debate with her partner Trinity Kipp. Additionally, Kaeley competed in five different speech events during her time in the league. In 2023 she won Extemporaneous speaking at the Region VIII Regional Championship and qualified to nationals in Extemporaneous, Apologetics, and Impromptu. Kaeley is excited to share the skills she's learned with others. |
 | Brendan McDonald Brendan McDonald competed in NCFCA for six years in a variety of categories, including Team Policy Debate. During that time, he won three tournaments in Team Policy, including a National Open, and placed second at three others. He competed at the National Tournament his last four years of competition. In 2019, Brendan placed 4th at the Coolidge Cup in Vermont. He attaches to speech and debate a vital role in his development as a student and a person. Brendan attends college at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in southern New Hampshire. |
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