Speech and Debate Coach/Mentor Information

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

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.
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AJ Neumann

AJ competed in Speech and Debate for five years, qualifying to The NCFCA National Championship each year. In 2016, he became the National Champion in two events- Original and Biblical!! AJ prefers to coach Platform and Interps, he wants to help you to create complexity, as well as characterization into your Speeches.



Adrian King

Adrian King is a Stoa alumni who competed from 2017-2020. She competed in and qualified for NITOC in all three forms of debate: Parliamentary Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Team Policy Debate. She also competed in every speech event except for Expository. She earned the Founders Award three years in a row. At NITOC 2019, she was a silver medalist in Lincoln Douglas. In the 2019-2020 season, Adrian was eighth overall on Speech Ranks, fourth overall in Apologetics, and seventh overall in Extemp. She placed third at Fall Into Debate and fifth at Veritas Veterans Day Challenge in Lincoln Douglas, earning first and third in speaker awards respectively. That same season, Adrian and her Parli partner, Madelyn Fritz, placed in the top ten at every tournament they attended. In Team Policy debate, Adrian and her partner, Eugene Kong, placed first at Point Loma Classic. With another partner, Dylan Jacobs, Adrian placed second in Team Policy Debate at NIHD’s National Virtual Debate Championship. She is dedicated to mentoring the next group of debate competitors and hopes to assist them in growing and flourishing in their skills.

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.

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.

Noah McKay

Noah McKay is an alumnus of the NCFCA and a PhD candidate in philosophy at Purdue University. During his time in the NCFCA, Noah was a regional champion and national finalist in both Lincoln Douglas debate and apologetics. In 2017, Noah won first place in moot court and Best Advocate at two out of three national opens, and became one of only a dozen students to receive the “Iron Man Plus” award for simultaneously competing in five speech events, debate, and moot court at the National Championship. Since graduating high school, Noah has earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in philosophy, published philosophical work in several leading academic journals, written several hundred pages' worth of debate curriculum and sourcebook material, and coached Lincoln Douglas debate for six years.

Ethan Tong

Ethan Tong is excited to be a part of the Lasting Impact! team again! He is the head coach and founder of Blackstone Moot Court, the premiere Moot Court coaching organization in the nation. In addition to Moot coaching, he has coached Lincoln-Douglas, Team Policy, and Apologetics. His students have routinely placed at the National level. A recent graduate of Hillsdale College with a Philosophy and Religion degree, Ethan is attending Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, pursuing a Masters of Divinity. He approaches coaching with an equally strong focus on knowledge (from his liberal arts education) and rhetorical excellence (from his collegiate Mock Trial experience). He will be coaching Limited Prep, LD, and Moot.

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

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.

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.

Peter Montgomery

Peter is an NCFCA alumnus (2015-2019) who is passionate about helping students unlock their full potential and use their skills to better understand the world, their faith, and themselves. Peter has qualified to nationals in Lincoln Douglas debate and multiple speech events across several leagues and won a number of tournaments during his time competing. Since then, he has specialized in coaching Lincoln Douglas, guiding numerous students to the national level, many of them winning tournaments and advancing at national championships across leagues.

Peter has developed his own personal strategies that he’s excited to share with his students, helping them grow in critical thinking skills, speaking abilities, as well as specialized debate tactics that will not only help win rounds but can also be applied outside of speech and debate. For Peter, the goal of debate is to learn how to promote the principles of truth and virtue in a culture desperately in need of them.

Peter is currently studying Aerospace Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology and plans to work in the defense industry after graduation. He is ready to help take your debate game to the next level and improve your abilities, giving you the tools to courageously spread the truth and the Gospel in your everyday life.

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.


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!

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.