FACULTY

Ronald Bratt, Director

Ronald Bratt has been involved in competitive academic debate for the past 25 years and has successfully started and grown both high school and college debate programs. From 1998 to 2005, Mr. Bratt started the Catholic University Debate program. In its first year of existence, Catholic Debate advanced to the finals of the American Debate Association. By 2001, Catholic University Debate Program was up to 30 debaters and was ranked number one in the nation by the National Debate Tournament rankings. Additionally, in 2001, Catholic Debate won 2 national titles including the American Debate Association Varsity Championship and the Cross Examination Debate Association Novice National Championship. Mr. Bratt has recently founded Capitol Debate, growing Howard County debate from just 1 or 2 policy debaters to over 70 strong including a competitive national travelling team.

Michael Antonucci, Lab Leader

As a high school coach, Mr. Antonucci has coached top speakers at the Glenbrooks and the Barkeley Forum, tournament winners at Greenhill, Georgetown Day, and Omaha Westside, finalists at Harvard and St. Mark's, two of the top ten teams at the 2005 NFL Nationals, and late elim participants and top ten speakers at virtually every major national competition.

As a Northwestern coach, he helped to propel teams to two first round at large bids, quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament, and late elimination rounds of the prestigious Harvard, Kentucky, Berkeley, Georgia State, USC and Wake Forest tournaments.

He has previously taught exceptionally well-reviewed lab groups and classes at Northwestern University, the Dartmouth Debate Institute, the New York's IMPACT Coalition's Institute and Training Initiative, and the University of Iowa.

Adrienne Brovero, Lab Leader

Adrienne debated for Wake Forest in the 90s, winning multiple national tournaments and reaching the semi-finals of the National Debate Tournament twice. She and her partner were also awarded the prestigious Rex Copeland Award as the top-ranked team during the regular season. Since then, Adrienne has coached at Wake, Michigan, Northwestern, Richmond, and is now the debate coach at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. In her 15 years of coaching, her teams have won nearly every tournament on the national circuit, including four National Debate Tournament championships. In the last year, her UMW squad has reached the quarters or better at several national tournaments, including Kentucky, Wake, USC, Northwestern, the American Debate Association Nationals, and the National Debate Tournament, and they recently reached the semi-finals at Harvard. Adrienne has taught at debate institutes since 1992, including the Fast Track and the Policy Project programs at Wake Forest, the Michigan National Debate Institute, the Iowa National Summer Institute, the Coon Hardy and Zarefsky Scholars programs at Northwestern, and the Gonzaga Debate Institute.

Daryl Burch, Lab Leader

Brian Manuel, Lab Leader

Brian Manuel has been coaching debate for a decade. He is widely recognized for unrivaled talent in creating and rebuilding programs from the bottom up.  Brian has coached for Harvard University, Lakeland High School, Chattahoochee High School, Cathedral Preparatory School, and Scranton High School.  His teams have reached the elimination rounds of many national tournaments, including the 2008 Tournament of Champions, and have had final round appearances at Wake Forest, Bronx Science, The University of Michigan, Lexington High School, and the 2007 National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament.  He has also coached the champions of the 2003 Bronx Science and 2008 Barkley Forum tournaments.  Additionally, his teams have participated in a number of national round robins including The Greenhill School, Georgetown University, The University of Michigan, Pace Academy, College Prep/Cal, and Harvard University.  Previously, Brian has taught at both the Kentucky National Debate Institute, with the Fellows program, and the Stanford National Forensics Institute and Extended Week programs.

Patrick Waldinger, Lab Leader

Patrick Waldinger is currently the Debate Coach at Boston College. Patrick attended high school at Cathedral Prep where he debated and twice broke at NFL Nationals. Patrick went on to debate in college at Catholic University, earning many accomplishments including winning the 2003 ADA National Championship and qualifying twice for the National Debate tournament. Before coaching at Boston College, Patrick attended graduate school at Wake Forest where he was an assistant coach and helped his teams reach late elimination rounds at the NDT. Patrick has seven years of experience teaching at debate institutes, including the Capitol Classic, Wake Debate Workshop and the SDI at Michigan State.