Our Team
Dorr H. Clark
IIn 1998, Dorr H. Clark embarked on a mentoring journey with debaters as part of the CLASH debate club. Mr. Clark provided individual guidance to hundreds of students across six different debate leagues.
He has worked one-on-one with twelve national champions. For 25 years, 20% of the 200 slots in team policy national finals and semifinals were occupied by individuals who had worked one on one with Mr. Clark. As the founding debate chair of the StoaUSA national speech & debate league, he introduced the Parliamentary form of debate, wrote the rules for Team Policy and Parliamentary debate, and created a lasting impact on Stoa students nationwide. For more information on his credentials, please visit here.
With a diverse academic background, Mr. Clark holds degrees in mathematics, psychology, and engineering. In the past, he shared his knowledge and expertise by teaching mathematics and computer science courses within the Graduate School of Engineering at Santa Clara University.Apart from his professional pursuits, Mr. Clark indulges in his passions for history, black and white movies, culinary arts, and exploring biking trails across the Bay Area.
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Elia Ching
Elia is a multi-talented individual excelling in the realms of debate, writing, and research. He is a Seaver Scholar and a Robert Day at Claremont McKenna College.
As an accomplished speaker and debater, Elia has achieved notable accolades, such as reaching the semifinals at the Stanford Invitational Parliamentary Open and securing third place nationally in both Team Policy and Parliamentary debate competitions. He is also an accomplished extemporaneous speech competitor. Additionally, Elia served as a speech and debate coach at Valley Christian School, sharing his extensive knowledge with aspiring debaters.
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Beyond debate, Elia has a deep passion for research across diverse fields, including International Relations, Economics, and Public Policy. He is a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was selected as a Gilman Scholar, Stanford Law Scholar and PIMCO Future Leaders Scholar. Among over 50,000 applicants, he was chosen as a U.S. Foreign Policy intern at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the world's top 10 think tanks. Elia has also served as a research intern at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, California Policy Center, Stanford Economics Department, and Stanford Graduate School of Education. Additionally, he co-organizes the UCSB-ECON DeFi Seminar, providing a platform for researchers worldwide to share their work on decentralized finance. Throughout his academic journey, he has had the opportunity to conduct research under professors from Stanford, Dartmouth, Carleton, New York University, and the University of Connecticut.
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Elia hopes to inspire young students with his knowledge, skills and passion. He believes that the ability for youth to think, speak, and analyze the world around them is the most important skill they can have.
Charis Ching
Charis is a student at MIT majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Teaching has always been at the heart of Charis' journey. She represented MIT in Italy, where she curated and taught a debate curriculum to over 120 students, an experience that was featured in a local newspaper. She has also served as a robotics coach, taught at SPARKS, an educational outreach program at MIT, and worked as a Teaching Assistant for math classes for several years. She has often been praised for being relatable to students, with engaging teaching methods that make challenging concepts accessible.
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Charis is accomplished in speech and debate, having reached the champion rounds and being a finalist in several national debate tournaments. She credits her training in speech and debate for her refined research skills in STEM and her polished presentation at scientific conferences. Charis believes that debate is one of the most essential life skills she gained during her high school years and is passionate about passing it on to her students.
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She is committed to helping her students build confidence, critical thinking, and communication skills, empowering them to express their ideas with clarity and conviction.