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Dr. Scott Voss - Director of Debate
Bio coming soon!
Nick Smith - Head Coach
Nick Smith is the Director of Instructional Design & Curriculum at Victory Briefs. He studied Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. He was the Director of Debate at Hopkins for four years and a coach at St. Thomas Academy & The Visitation School. His students have won multiple state championships, reached late elimination rounds at many major national tournaments, received numerous round robin invitations, and have frequently qualified to the TOC, NSDA Nationals, NDCA Nationals, and NCFL Grand Nationals. He is also the founder and manager of Victory Briefs Virtual Classroom, which is an online platform with a standardized and stand-alone debate curriculum containing lessons, lectures, and lesson plans.
Cori Roberts - Assistant Coach
Cori Roberts is an assistant coach who works primarily with our first-year debaters. This is her third season coaching for Apple Valley, and she is a senior at the University of Minnesota studying mathematics and management information systems. She is an alumna of our team, having debated for Apple Valley for four years and graduated in 2018. Her favorite thing about coaching is helping students develop real-world communication skills and critical thinking abilities.
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Lawrence Zhou - Assistant Coach
Lawrence Zhou is Director of Lincoln Douglas and Director of Publishing at Victory Briefs, where he was formerly a Lincoln-Douglas Curriculum Director. He is the 2014 NSDA Lincoln-Douglas national champion. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma where he was a MIS major with Philosophy, Marketing, and Chinese minors. He was an assistant coach at The Harker School and a graduate assistant at the University of Wyoming, was a member of the OU Ethics Bowl Team where he placed as the National Runner Up at the 2018 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Competition, and debated on the OU Shannon Self Debate Program policy team where he advanced to outrounds at the 2016 and 2018 CEDA Tournament. He was the League Co-Director of Debate at the National High School Debate League of China from 2019-2020, promoting Public Forum Debate in China.