Authors

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 the season-long Lincoln Douglas Speaker Champion and Speaker Champion at nationals. Charis won Lincoln Douglas and Parliamentary Debate finals at numerous tournaments during her career. Currently, Charis is a senior at Liberty University pursuing a degree in Political Science and Business. When she is not coaching, Charis enjoys practicing flute, piano, and voice, organizing events, working at her Church, and working as a construction estimator.

Over the course of six years in speech and debate, Aryanna amassed hundreds of rounds of experience, finished her competitive seasons with over 100 top-three finishes in various events, and developed a passion for effective communication, edifying persuasion, and meaningful debates. That passion has continued outside of the high school arena as she studies Public Relations on a full-ride scholarship at Union University and works as a public speaker for the Make-A-Wish Organization. In her free time, Aryanna loves spending time with her family, coffee runs with friends, traveling, and outdoor activities.

Sourcebooks: Acquisition of Knowledge (2024-25), Mandatory National Service (2024-25), Individual Rights v. National Security (2023-24), Letter v. Spirit of the Law (2023-2024)

Hudson competed in Stoa for five years. He won tournaments in Lincoln Douglas, Team Policy, and Parliamentary Debate as well as numerous speech events. He has given coaching and assistance with positive results to multiple debaters as he personally competed across all debate formats, in addition to having competed in almost every speech event. Hudson graduated Stoa in 2024 and attends Patrick Henry College. Outside of speech and debate, Hudson enjoys playing the piano, chess, discussing theology and philosophy, and learning as much as possible.

Sourcebooks: Acquisition of Knowledge (2024-25), Mandatory National Service (2024-25), Accountability v. Effectiveness (2024-25)

My name is Levi Magness. I competed in Stoa Speech and Debate from 7th to 12th grade. I debated in Lincoln Douglas, Team Policy, and Parli formats. For speech, I competed in numerous platforms, limited preps, and interps. Outside of Stoa, I like to spend time with my family and church communities, get outside, and am currently pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Engineering.

Sourcebooks: Accountability v. Effectiveness (2024-25), Objectivity v. Advocacy (2023-24), Letter v. Spirit of the Law (2023-24)

Charles competed in Stoa for five years, starting with just LD and adding speeches as he went. He always enjoyed speeches – especially limited prep, making it to Extemporaneous nationals finals his junior year – but his true love has always been debate. From the first time he achieved a winning record his junior year, Charles earned one every tournament until the end of his career. Winning four tournaments in LD speaks throughout his career, Charles went into NITOC in 2025 with top LD speaker points and finished second in the nation overall. After winning the largest LD tournament of the preliminary season, Charles ended his senior year in the top ten nationally for LD. He also made it to Parli octofinals at NITOC, finishing in the top ten. Charles is now attending the University of Tulsa this fall on a full-ride scholarship and is planning on studying Computer Engineering with minors in piano and entrepreneurship.

Sourcebooks: Diplomacy v. Military Intervention (2025-26), Incrementalism v. Radicalism (2025-26)

John has been involved in Stoa since he was seven years old. He began competing in Apologetics and Lincoln Douglas when he was 12 and steadily added events during the six years of his Stoa career until, as a senior, he was regularly competing in 10 or 11 events at each tournament. While his best events were Apologetics, Impromptu, Expository, Parliamentary Debate, and Lincoln Douglas Debate, he placed highly in all 11 events and won first-place trophies in nine of them. In 2023, John won the second-place NITOC tournament champion award and won the national championships of Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Apologetics. He was also ranked the number one competitor by points on Speechranks. Now competing at the collegiate level, John has continued to earn several national championship titles in speech and debate. He has a deep passion for mentoring Stoa students, helping them pursue both excellence and godliness in their competitive journeys.

Sourcebooks: Individual Rights v. National Security (2023-24)

As an alumni of Stoa, Caleb competed for four years, won multiple tournaments in Lincoln Douglas, had a top 10 prelim win percentage his senior year, and had a winning record in every tournament he competed at his senior year including nationals. Caleb also experienced success in Parliamentary Debate, reaching octofinals at nationals. Caleb is currently attending Union University and pursuing a double major in Economics and Political Science, while continuing his debate experience, competing for Union in collegiate debate in the International Public Debate Association. Outside of debate Caleb enjoys working out and playing sports and would love to challenge anyone to beat him in a round of disc golf.

Sourcebooks: Mandatory National Service (2024-25)

Caleb Tham is a Stoa alumnus who participated in speech and debate for six years. He has competed at NITOC in 11 different events and was awarded the Stoa Founders Award on two occasions. Most recently, Caleb attended NITOC 2022, where he won 1st place Lincoln Douglas Speaker. With over 500 rounds of competitive debate experience and over 200 hours of speech and debate coaching experience, Caleb is excited to be given the opportunity to assist the next generation of speech and debate champions. In his free time, Caleb enjoys running, music, video games, and reading. In the fall of 2023, Caleb will enter his second year at Oral Roberts University with a full-tuition scholarship to study medical molecular biology, biochemistry, psychology, and drama.

Sourcebooks: Objectivity v. Advocacy (2023-24), Letter v. Spirit of the Law (2023-24). 

During her four years in Stoa, Sophia Wright competed in Team Policy for two years and Lincoln Douglas and Parliamentary for one. After a senior season of consistently advancing to outrounds and winning two tournaments, she finished the season ranked eleventh in the nation in Lincoln Douglas. She also competed in platforms, limited prep, and interpretive speech events, obtaining several first-place finishes at local tournaments and finishing 5th at Nationals in Persuasive her senior year. In her free time, Sophia loves playing cards, cooking, and singing with her sisters.

PC: Lindsey Landrum Photography

Sourcebooks: Letter v. Spirit of the Law (2023-24)

After five years of competition, Joseph is entering his senior year. Focusing primarily on debate events and limited prep speaking, Joseph competes in Team Policy, Lincoln Douglas, and Parliamentary Debate, as well as Apologetics and Extemporaneous. During his time in Stoa, Joseph has won Team Policy and Lincoln Douglas Speaker awards across multiple years. With multiple partners, Joseph has won Team Policy and Parliamentary Debate at large tournaments and competed in finals multiple times. At the National Invitational Tournament of Champions in 2021 Joseph competed in the quarterfinal round in Parliamentary Debate and got 7th place overall. Joseph has also competed in the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association league. This year, Joseph will be competing in Stoa's Team Policy Debate.

Sourcebooks: Objectivity v. Advocacy (2023-24), Elected Representatives (2023-24 proposed)

Annika's journey in speech and debate began after years of timing tournaments. She competed for three years in numerous events. During her time in competition, she advanced to dozens of finals, earning multiple first-place finishes. At Nationals her senior year she achieved a fifth-place finish in Team Policy debate to solidify her and her partner as the fourth-place season-long Team Policy team in 2023 Today, Annika uses her communication skills in the world of missions, working as an onboarding specialist, where she assists aspiring missionaries in getting to the field. When she's not working, Annika enjoys playing and writing music, spending time with family and friends, hiking, traveling, and rock climbing.

Sourcebooks: Acquisition of Knowledge (2024-25), Accountability v. Effectiveness (2024-25)