“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 a Senior Lecturer 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 2024 will mark the thirty-fifth 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 a graduate student at the University of Chicago pursuing a Master of Arts in Social Sciences. Nik graduated from Northwestern University in 2024, majoring in Political Science and Gender & Sexuality Studies, with a minor in Critical Theory. They debated for Northwestern for four years, qualifying to the National Debate Tournament (NDT) 3 times and reaching the double-octofinals of the NDT their senior year. Nik is currently an Assistant Coach for Northwestern’s debate team and a coach for the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Nik attended the Northwestern Debate Institute (NDI) for 3 summers during their high school debate career and has taught at the camp since 2020. More recently, they were the Assistant Institute Director for Curriculum for the 2024 NDI.
Squid Monteith – Residential Director
Squid (they/them) Monteith 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 second 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. As a coach, Squid helped multiple teams achieve success, including elimination rounds at TOC qualifying tournaments and state championships. 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 and to 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.
Flynn Makuch – Faculty
Flynn Makuch debated with success at Glenbrook North HS, including winning national tournaments and reaching the elimination rounds (top 16) at the Tournament of Champions multiple times. They then received a scholarship to debate at the University of Texas-Austin, where they also achieved national success, including multiple appearances in the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament. Flynn went on to coach several universities and high schools to national success, including Emory University, Glenbrook South HS, and many more. Flynn also taught debate in China for a year, before returning to take their current job at Chicago Debates, a non-profit organization that seeks to establish and support policy debate teams in public middle and high schools across the city of Chicago. Flynn also is an assistant coach for Northwestern.
Joseph Weideman – Faculty
Joe Weideman debated for four years in high school at Iowa City High, and four years in college for Northwestern University. In High School he was a two time qualifier to the TOC, making him the first Iowa City High debater to attend the tournament in over a decade. When debating for Northwestern he was a four time qualifier (3 time attendee because of COVID) to the National Debate Tournament. Joe reached elimination debates every year, and the quarterfinals in his junior season. He was a first round at large bid recipient in his final two years of college, and was third in the Copeland race his senior year. Joe has coached two teams to TOC elimination debates. This is his fifth year as a lab leader at Northwestern.
Michael Lee – Faculty
Michael Lee is an incoming freshman at Northwestern. He debated PF for Middleton HS on both the Wisconsin and National Circuits. During his junior year, Michael reached quarterfinals at Wisconsin state and elimination rounds at St. James and Millard North. As a senior, Michael founded and coached a debate program at Kromrey Middle School and mentored a team to the state championship.
“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
