Team Members

Gina Polesetsky (she/her) is the Head Coach. She has extensive performance experience as a high school speech student, serving as the President of the Speech Team...

Frances Jereb (she/her) is the Asst. Coach for Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Informative, and Original Oratory. She is a Communication student at UC Santa Barbara with broad speech and debate experience in the California Community College Circuit, receiving the Top Speaker Award at the 2024 CCCFA State Championship...

Kevin King (he/him) is the Asst. Coach for Informative, Original Oratory, and Interpretive Events. He has extensive experience in coaching high school students in school and summer camp settings, including at the prestigious University of Texas, Austin National Institute of Forensics...

Teresa Estrada (She/Her) is an Assistant Speech Coach specializing in interpretation and performance events. She is an alum of the Illinois High School Association Drama and Speech circuit and a graduate of Illinois State University...

Elodie Tinajero, Jr. (she/they) is the Asst. Coach for Informative, Original Oratory, and Interpretive Events. Elodie is a writer and speech and debate coach located in Peoria, IL. She has eleven years of competitive experience in speech and debate, as well as nine years of coaching experience...

Kyle Ahern (he/him) is an assistant coach for speech events. He has served as a lab leader at both the Institute for Speech and Debate and the University of Texas at Austin Institute of Forensics. In addition to his camp experience, Kyle coached the University of Texas at Austin’s AFA-NST 2025 national championship team.