NATIONAL CONGRESS INSTITUTE STAFF

Zach Wu is a Chancellor’s Scholar at Vanderbilt University. He debated for Naperville North in Illinois, where for three straight years, Zach was one of the top debaters in the country. He championed Harvard twice, the Princeton Classic, and the UPenn Liberty Bell Classic, in addition to placing 2nd at the Tournament of Champions in 2021 and 2023. Along the way, he accumulated 23 bids, including top-6 placements at Glenbrooks, Emory, and both chambers of NSDA. In Illinois, he is the most decorated debater in state history, having championed the Illinois Congressional Debate Association, the Illinois Tournament of Champions, and the Illinois High School Association. Each twice! As a co-founder of Youth Voices, Zach has built the most successful extracurricular debate program in the country from the ground up. His students, this past year, have won Harvard, Bronx, UPenn, and Durham, and placed in the top 6 of every major championship. Outside of debate and school, Zach loves golf and cooking.

Ethan Wilkes is a rising sophomore at the University of Texas studying Statistics and Data Science. He competed for four years and is best known for championing Yale in 2021, Sunvite in 2022, and placing top-6 at Harvard, the Tournament of Champions, and NSDA in 2023. Ethan finaled the Senate for three consecutive years, Florida Blue Key, Emory, UT, and Stanford. He has a career total of 24 bids (one more than Zach!) and two Harvard Round Robin invites (two more than Zach!). As a coach, Ethan’s students have placed top 6 in the House, Harvard, Florida Blue Key, Emory, and Bronx. He is looking forward to working with a lot of debaters this summer to hone their argumentation and technical skills. In his free time, Ethan loves playing cards, watching college football (HOOK 'EM), and grinding for quant trading interviews. 

Mike Kaiser is an incoming sophomore at the University of Florida where he studies finance and is an analyst for the Founders Fund, a premiere student-run investment fund. While competing, Mike championed Yale in 2022 and the Harvard Round Robin in 2023. He also placed 2nd at Glenbrooks in 2022, 5th at NSDA Nationals in 2022, 4th at Harvard in 2023, and made finals at Glenbrooks 2021, Harvard 2022, and Sunvite 2021. Mike has 24 career TOC bids and has coached students to numerous prestigious achievements including championing Harvard and placing in the top 3 at Yale. During his free time, Mike can be found surfing the Florida waves or hitting new PRs in the gym. 

Fadhil Lawal is an incoming freshman at Vanderbilt University studying electrical engineering and computer science. In high school, he served as the President of the Seven Lakes Speech & Debate team (2023-2024) and Congressional Debate Captain (2022-2023). He qualified for the Tournament of Champions and the National Tournament every year of his participation in Congressional Debate aside from his freshman year and TFA State every year of his career.  He has won championship titles at TFA State, the Barkley Forum, and the Glenbrooks in 2023-24. In 2022-23, he secured a championship at the Glenbrooks, claimed 3rd place at the Tournament of Champions, and 5th place at the Barkley Forum. Additionally, he placed 6th at Nationals in 2022 in the House.

Romi Drubetskoy is currently a senior at the Bronx High School of Science, and is President of the first nationally-ranked debate team in the country. She has accumulated 17 TOC bids over her career, and as Captain of her Congress squad, has led 21 people to qualify for TOC in one year - the most from one school in the tournament's history. She has hosted and run both the New York City Invitational, as well as numerous for-charity online tournaments. She has placed 6th at Glenbrooks, 6th at the Barkley Forum (twice), as well as 4th at Yale in 2022, 9th at TOC in 2023, and 2nd at the 2023 NCFL Grand Nationals. Throughout 2022 and 2023, she's also finalled the likes of Florida Blue Key, Sunvite, Villiger, and Dowling Catholic.

Rhea Thakkar is a graduate of Lake Mary Preparatory School and will be attending the University of Miami’s Foote Fellows Honors Program as a Hammond Scholar. Throughout her time in Congressional Debate, she has gotten 2nd at GMU (twice!), 3rd at Sunvite, and made final rounds at Barkley Forum, Yale, and Blue Key while reaching semifinals at Harvard, TOC, NSDA Nationals, and NCFL Nationals. She has been invited to the Blue Key Round Robin and Harvard Round Robin twice, while also accumulating over fifteen TOC bids in her career. In her (rare) spare time, she can be found binging Suits (for the third time), listening to NFL podcasts while driving, and finding new coffee shops to study at.