“They {lab leaders} were phenomenal. All of them showed intricate debate experience, passion for the activity, and were intensely supportive of our work as debaters.”
-2022 Cherub
“I loved my lab leaders, they all had different field of expertise in debate but they all were welcoming and friendly…and it always felt like they knew what to do and were always willing to answer questions and help even if it was small or seemed obvious.”
-2022 Cherub
“I liked my lab leaders a lot…They allowed us to learn through thought provoking discussions and little application practices that all proved extremely useful in the end.”
-2022 Cherub
Daniel J. Fitzmier – NHSI Debate Institute Director
Daniel J. Fitzmier is the Director of Debate and Associate Professor of Instruction in Northwestern’s School of Communication. Over the course of his career, he has coached 10 different teams to the Finals of the National Debate Tournament, including the National Champions in 2015, 2011, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2000. He has also coached seven Copeland Award-winning teams, the award given to the team with the top overall performance each debate season. He has coached two Top Speakers at the NDT and is the only coach to ever coach more than one woman to win that award. Dr. Fitzmier has received the James J. Unger Award more than any other coach – having been awarded that honor in four of the last eight seasons. He was voted the National Debate Coach of the Year in 2012 and has coached fifteen teams to the Final Four of the National Debate Tournament as well as seventeen top five Copeland finishers in his seventeen years of working as an assistant, graduate student, and director. The summer institute in 2025 will mark the thirty-sixth Northwestern Debate Institute at which he has served as the director or instructor. Hear him speak on the benefits of high-quality debate here.
Nikola (Nik) Stamenković Diez – Assistant Institute Director for Curriculum
Nikola (Nik) Stamenković Diez is an Assistant Coach for Northwestern’s debate team and is the Assistant Institute Director for Curriculum at the Northwestern Debate Institute (NDI). Nik attended the NDI for three summers during high school and has taught at the camp since 2020. Nik debated for Northwestern for four years, qualifying for the National Debate Tournament (NDT) three times and reaching the double-octofinals senior year. Nik recently earned a Master of Arts in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and graduated from Northwestern University in 2024. The 2025 summer institute will mark Nik’s eighth year at the NDI—as a student, instructor, or assistant director.
Squid Monteith – Residential Director
Squid is the Director of Debate and Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Northern Iowa. Squid has worked with the NHSI Debate Institute since 2017 and has served as a Residential Advisor and Residential Director. This is Squid’s third year as the Residential Director.
Squid earned their bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Critical Communication from Emporia State University where they debated for four years and earned various speaker and elimination awards. Squid coached numerous high school debaters while completing their undergraduate studies, primarily working with under-funded programs and programs with high student-to-coach ratios. Squid continued their studies at Kansas State University where they earned a master’s degree in communication studies while serving as a graduate teaching and coaching assistant. Squid coached multiple teams to qualify for the NDT, TOC, and late elimination rounds at CEDA.
In August of 2023, Squid was appointed the Director of Debate at the University of Northern Iowa. In 2024, Squid received the New Director of the Year Award for their hard work rebuilding the historic Northern Iowa debate team and led the program to earn the 2024 New or Rebuilding Program Award as well as a finals appearance in the 2024 CEDA Nationals Novice Breakout.
Michael Lee – Faculty
Michael is a rising senior and fourth-year debater at Northwestern, where he studies Math and Economics. Previously, Michael debated for Middleton HS for four years on the national circuit, where he also coached his team to three consecutive state championships.
Ari Arceo – Faculty
Ari Arceo is a sophomore debater at Northwestern University. As a debater at the Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet, Ari competed at a high level in UIL and UDL tournaments, including breaking into the late-elimination rounds of the UIL State CX Tournament and the Urban Debate National Championship.
Mark Martinez – Faculty
Mark Martinez is a rising second year debater at Northwestern. He debated policy for four years in high school at Damien High School, and is a two time qualifier to the TOC. One of his TOC appearances was as the first all sophomore team in Damien High School history. Since graduating, Mark has gone back to coach his former teammates to several late elimination rounds, and tournament wins.
“I loved the camp environment during and outside of lab. I connected with people from all over the country and the campus is BEAUTIFUL, and it is very easy to navigate. We had a good balance of fun, free time, and debate.”
– 2017 Cherub
