Stefan Bauschard

Stefan Bauschard  has been active in speech and debate for 39 years, having first debated in his 8th grade social studies class in 1985.

Since then, he has helped established debate programs in more than seven countries and has built a large online instruction instructional services website that supports more than 5,000 students and teachers annually.

He co-founded the Harvard Debate Council Summer Workshops, the Georgetown Debate fall and spring tournaments, the Cal Berkeley Fall Championships, the Silver Division of the Tournament of Champions (TOC), and the Middle School TOC. He grew his own Lakeland tournament in New York from 100 participants in 2005 to 1,000 participants.

He has taught and directed summer debate camps for more than 20 years. During the pandemic, he helped lead the debate community to debating online, initiating the application of classrooms.cloud to support organized debate competition.

Currently, Stefan is focused on coaching debate at Lakeland schools, running debate tournaments, and helping K-16 institutions understand the growing significance of AI, including AI literacy and instructional redesign using debate.  He is the author and editor of two books on education and AI and blogs about AI and society at stefanbauschard.substack.com.

As part of his work, he is working with Navi Education to develop instructional programs in AI and Debate for summer 2025. 

You can contact him through info@debateus.org

Zach earned a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia, where he was awarded the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Award, a government-funded research grant, for his work on structuralist mathematical ontology. His academic focus includes formal logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and metaphysics, along with a strong interest in ethics, epistemology, and political philosophy. For the past seven years, Zach has coached competitive debate, helping students achieve success in tournaments across North America and China. As co-founder of the Modus Ponens Institute, he develops programs like the Ethics Olympiads and Global AI Debates while managing a team of instructors in Canada and China. Outside of work, Zach enjoys skiing, mountaineering, and reading.

Archie Stapleton grew up in Perth, Australia, before earning an honours degree in Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he discovered analytic Buddhist philosophy, leading him to complete a Master of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School. Passionate about speech and debate since high school, he captained the WA team to Australian Nationals, won the National Mock Trial Championships, and later co-founded the Modus Ponens Institute after coaching at BL Education and Toronto Debate Academy. Recently, Archie has worked on expanding the Ethics Olympiad, the Global AI Debates, and his China-based debate academy. He has taught Buddhist monks Western philosophy in India, trained championship-winning debate teams in Shanghai, and remains dedicated to Irish music, AI literacy, and empowering students through speech and debate.