IDEA introduces staff members of 2010 IDEA Youth Forum

IDEA is excited to introduce this year's staff of the IDEA Youth Forum, taking place July 22-August 4, 2010 in Zeeland, Netherlands. These staff members will ensure that the Youth Forum fulfills its purpose in offering participants two weeks of intense learning, debate and fun activities!

As Chief Adjudicator, Andrej Schulcz of Slovakia will be leading all judging sessions at the forum. He will also be making sure that the judging standards for the Karl Popper Debate Championship and the Mixed Teams Tournament are upheld. As the Tabulation Officer, Georgi Velkovski (a.k.a Whiskey) from Macedonia will be responsible for pairing teams and judges for the tournaments. As the Assistant Forum Director, Mary Sheffield from the United States will be responsible for making sure the code of conduct and good behavior is upheld.

The Youth Forum Curriculum Committee is composed of five individuals who are the head trainers of their respective education track. As such, they have been busy putting together their curricula, outlining lessons for their workshops, and selecting the trainers that will teach at the forum. This year's trainers team is composed of the following:

Robert Trapp (USA)- Mixed Teams Track
Sharon Porter (USA)- Coaches and Judges Track
Logan Balavijendran (Malaysia)- British Parliamentary Track
Elisabeth Humphrey (USA)- English as a Foreign Language Track
Joe Zompetti (USA)- International New Debaters Track

Trainers selected to serve in the Mixed Team Track are Dea Markova (Bulgaria), Yang Ge (PR China), Kai Klandorf (Estonia), Zarifa Abassova (Azerbaijan), Habin Chung (Republic of Korea), Lazar Pop Ivanov (Macedonia), Annushia Balavijendran (Malaysia), Anca Pusca (Romania), Branislav Fecko (Slovakia), Spela Kunej (Slovenia), Patrick Bongo Namisi (Uganda), Susan Connolly (Ireland), Ashley Miller (USA), Ronna Liggett (USA), Thomas McCloskey (USA), and Lin Lu (USA/Korea).

Trainers that were selected to serve in the British Parliamentary Track are Sharmila Parmanand (Phillipines) and Vivek Ramsaroop (South Africa). Trainers of the Coaches and Judges Track will be Mark Woolsey (USA) and Noura Mansour (Palestinian Territories). And, Elvira Seitzkazinova (Kazakhstan) will be the trainer for the English as a Second Language Track.

2009 IDEA Youth Forum Trainers

For more information on the 2010 Youth Forum, visit the official YF website. If you are interested in attending this event, contact the Youth Forum Director, Veronika Vlckova at vvlckova@idebate.org.