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 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 serves as a speech and debate coach at Valley Christian School, sharing his extensive knowledge with aspiring debaters.
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Beyond the realm of debate, Elia possesses a deep passion for conducting research across various fields, including International Relations, Economics, and Public Policy. He was one of the US Foreign Policy interns chosen from over 50,000 applicants at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the top 10 think tanks. Currently, Elia serves as a research intern at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, California Policy Center, Stanford Economics Department, and Stanford Graduate School of Education. In addition, He also co-organizes UCSB-ECON DeFi Seminar, a platform for researchers worldwide to share their work on decentralized finance. Throughout his academic journey, Elia has had the opportunities of conducting 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.